Pastel
by xXLadyRachelXx
Summary: In the summer of 1997, Kaitlyn Bonin, who fears the worst after failing to get in contact with her childhood friend AJ Lee, decides to travel to Hope's Creek, where both women lived when they were young. It's the same town that was terrorized by a string of brutal murders of young girls in 1980. While reflecting on her past, Kaitlyn is determined to find out what happened to AJ.
1. Kaitlyn

**Chapter 1**

 **Kaitlyn**

She had waited for five seconds. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty.

Each second that went by felt like a century had passed, which only caused the knot in the pits of her stomach to grow tighter and tighter. She noticed that she was quickly tapping on the mattress of her bed with her index finger, something she would always do when she was getting nervous or impatient… and she could swear that she had probably never been this nervous in her entire life; she could feel her mouth becoming so dry that her tongue was sticking against the roof. But still, there was that one shred of hope. It was so small that the enormous wave that was the nervousness could easily drown it, but still, it was hope nonetheless. And as long as you had it, you had to hold onto it, she had learned that by now. At any second, any damn second that went by and increased that agonizing feeling that was slowly sinking to her feet and the drought in her mouth, she expected her to finally pick up the phone and tell her that everything was okay. Only then she could go to bed and actually get some proper sleep for the night. For once, she wouldn't have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning, with the thought of something that had happened to her being the first thing that would cross her mind as soon as she would open her slightly stinging eyes. She wouldn't have to check the answering machine with her rapidly beating heart up in her throat, hoping to see the red numbers displaying whatever amount of missed calls that were made while she was asleep. But every time she did, there was nothing. And she was pretty damn sure that she had given her the correct phone number. Hopefully she hadn't lost her cell phone. Or maybe it was broken, which was a pretty logical explanation if you'd ask her, but for some reason, it didn't ease her at all. Again, she had given her own phone number, she could've easily called her by payphone or something. The monotone, rhythmic beeps on the other side of the line filled up her entire head, but nobody picked up. Outside, the loud rumbling of thunder interrupted the sound of rain hitting the bedroom window.

And it was on that same rainy night in the summer of 1997 where Kaitlyn Bonin had once again failed to get in contact with her childhood friend AJ Lee.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Kaitlyn let out a frustrated sigh; knowing that AJ wasn't going to pick up made that last shred of hope fade away. She hung up and put the telephone back on the nightstand next to the bed. This had been the tenth (or twelfth?) time that she had attempted to call her friend during the past three days. The two-toned woman remembered not being that worried when she called AJ's number for the first three times and didn't get any response, she had thought that she hadn't been around at the moment to pick up. She had expected AJ to call back, of course she would see the amount of calls that she had missed. But as the days passed by and she still didn't hear anything from her friend, a knot began to develop in the pits of Kaitlyn's stomach. Something didn't feel right here and it was on her mind the entire time. It refused to leave her alone, not even while she was at work, while doing so would always distract her from whatever was troubling her. No, this couldn't be ignored, she knew that. In order to get rid of that feeling and to know what AJ had been up to, she began calling more and more, all in the hope of hearing something from her, no matter how small it would be. But each attempt had been proven futile.

'Where are you, AJ…?' she mumbled with a soft voice. The two-toned woman lied down and stared at the ceiling while that godawful feeling relentlessly ate her alive. She knew she could kiss another night of sleep goodbye. The option to hope that she could finally get in contact with her friend tomorrow was there, but then again, Kaitlyn didn't have much hope for that anymore, honestly. What chance was there if she wouldn't even pick up for three days straight? Little to none, but it was most likely that it would be the latter. Kaitlyn closed her eyes and listened to the rain outside. Even though listening to a rainstorm during the night had always soothed her to the point where she would fall asleep for as long as she could remember, it didn't work at all. No, this feeling just simply couldn't be ignored. Dear God, she couldn't take it anymore, it was too much. Something was going on here.

They had been so close before... she was the closest friend that she ever had.

The last time Kaitlyn had seen her before all of this began was four days ago. It was like she had never changed during the years. The two-toned woman remembered AJ's face expressing the same amount of surprise as she did, she had no idea that she would be in the mall of Greene City, the city where she was living, on that very same day. If she had hugged her any tighter, Kaitlyn would be sure she would've possibly cracked a rib or two. But even though AJ did genuinely look surprised when she saw the two-toned woman, she didn't exactly express excitement when she was speaking to her. It slightly felt… distant. But that didn't repress any of Kaitlyn's excitement, though. There was so much she wanted to talk about with her, it suddenly felt like the last time she had seen her was only yesterday instead of seventeen years ago. It just happened that Kaitlyn didn't have had lunch at that moment, so she saw the perfect opportunity to spend some time with her childhood friend; AJ had politely refused the lunch at first, but the two-toned woman managed to successfully convince her in the end. She happened to know the perfect place for a nice, calm lunch. They took a seat in a little restaurant next to a fashion store that sold expensive brands of clothing on the second floor. As the two young women continued to chit-chat, AJ's slightly distant behavior was on the verge of changing, until their food was brought to their table. Her childhood friend didn't say anything while she dug in, but after taking a bites from her salad, she said something that almost immediately send a chill down Kaitlyn's spine.

'I just want to let you know… tomorrow I will be heading back to Hope's Creek. I'm going to find that bastard, one way or another.'

Hope's Creek… oh dear God, not Hope's Creek.

That place, that goddamn place, was not only the hometown of Kaitlyn, but that of AJ as well. It had been ages since she had heard the name of that place come out of someone's mouth; she had hoped so dearly that AJ wouldn't have mentioned that place. And the two-toned woman knew exactly who 'that bastard' was; it was mainly that part that had send that chill down that spine with so much force, it was almost painful.

'W-Why?' she had asked. 'Don't you know, AJ? They had found him already not long after what ha-'

But Kaitlyn didn't get the chance to finish her sentence. AJ grabbed an unused napkin, retrieved a pen from her pocket and quickly wrote down a couple of numbers. A telephone number, the two-toned woman realized.

'Here. You can contact me if you feel like doing so.' her childhood friend said while handing over the napkin to her. Just then, a small smile could be seen on her face. 'But please… try not to worry too much, okay? I will be fine. See ya around, Kait. It… It was nice to see you again.' And just before Kaitlyn could say anything, AJ had already gotten up and there she went, out the door and out of her sight, leaving the two-toned woman alone at the table with an expression on her face that could only be described as a mix of confusion and worry.

'Believe me AJ… I have tried not to worry. I really did.' Kaitlyn mumbled while rolling on her side.

Another loud rumble of thunder rolled through the night as more rain began to pour down. God, this was driving her insane… There were just too many question through the two-toned woman's mind. Where the hell was she? Why didn't she pick up? She couldn't have simply vanished into thin air, right? Was she still in Hope's Creek? Had she even gone there yet? Why wouldn't she call by payphone if her cell phone was indeed broken? What if…

What if something had happened to her and she needed her help?

That sudden, terrifying thought made Kaitlyn instantly open her eyes, widening them in pure horror. The thought caused goose bumps to instantly appear on every part of her body and even though it was a pretty warm summer night despite the rain, she was freezing cold, like she had been buried in a huge layer of snow for hours. Something inside her head snapped. From the moment she sat up, a rock solid decision had been made.

That's it. She had enough of this. There was no way in hell she was just going to sit here and do nothing while AJ was out there, possibly helpless, alone and frightened beyond belief. She had been there for her in the past… and she was sure as hell willing to be there for her once more.

She was going to Hope's Creek, right now.

Kaitlyn stood up and knelt down to peek underneath the bed. Bits of dust could be spotted on the carpet here and there, but thanks to the light of the lamp on her nightstand that illuminated the bedroom, she could clearly see the outline of a large object. Kaitlyn reached out with her hand and retrieved a large, purple suitcase; the last time she had used that thing was probably the time where she had traveled to New York to visit her mother. After she brushed off some dust, she put the empty suitcase on her bed and opened it. She took a brief moment to wonder what she would take with her. How many shirts would she need, depending on her stay? How many jeans and pairs of underwear? And what about shoes? Then she realized that none of that mattered; she would take some stuff and she could buy the rest in Hope's Creek, simple as that. Hell, it was one of the last things she had to worry about.

But just as she was about to open her closet to grab some clothes, she could hear muffled footsteps downstairs, followed by the sound of an opening door and more footsteps that traveled up the stairs. A few seconds later, Bobby Roode, personal trainer, fitness model and Kaitlyn's boyfriend, stood in the doorway of their bedroom with a puzzled but sleepy look on his face. Looked like he had finally woken up from his nap on the couch, maybe the thunder had woke him up, the two toned woman thought he was going to spend the whole night there. But honestly… she wouldn't have been bothered by that at all.

'Kait, what are you doing?' he grumbled. 'Why is the light on here? I thought you were asleep already.' When he took notice of the suitcase on the bed, it looked like some of the sleepiness was replaced with alertness. 'What's with the suitcase?' he asked while pointing at it.

Even though she really didn't feel like talking to him right now, Kaitlyn felt like at least he deserved to know where she was going. 'Uh, Bobby…' she said. 'Remember when I told you about that childhood friend I met at the mall a couple of days ago? AJ Lee?'

'You mean that girl who used to live in the same town as you? Yeah, I remember.'

'She, uh… She told me that she was going to Hope's Creek for some… business. I have kept calling her during the past days, but she hadn't picked up once. I think something's wrong with her, Bobby. Really wrong. I think something happened to her and I need to know what. I'm going to Hope's Creek to look for her. I will let you know if-'

The two-toned woman was abruptly interrupted by the contemptuous sniggering of her boyfriend, as if she had been telling him a good joke this whole time. Bobby shook his head.

'Look, Kait…' he said with an unpleasant smile on his face. 'I think you should know that I don't believe a damn word what you're saying.'

'What do you mean?'

'You know what I think?' Bobby's face suddenly changed entirely. There was not a trace of sleepiness left in his eyes, which were now shooting daggers at his girlfriend. His mouth was now a flat line. 'I think you were about to run off to some other guy!'

'What? What are you talking about?!' Kaitlyn asked indignantly.

'Childhood friend, my ass. You have met up with some other dipshit at the mall and thought he was better than me. And you saw your chance to go to him while I was asleep, didn't you? Well, I've got some bad news for you, Kaitlyn. You aren't going anywhere. You'd better call that guy right now and tell him that he isn't going to have a piece of you tonight, because you are staying here! You got that?!'

Oh… this was just priceless. This is how he was going to play it. Despite the harsh words, the two-toned woman curled the left corner of her mouth into a smirk and chuckled. She couldn't have thought of a better moment to finally call him out on his bullshit.

'You don't think I'm fucking dumb, do you?' she asked.

'Huh?'

'I'm not the one here being a two-faced scumbag, Bob.' Kaitlyn replied calmly. 'You thought I didn't know? I have seen it plenty of times during this week. You just couldn't help it, could you? Oh yeah, you're a real man alright. A real fucking macho. Had to show off the body that helped you to win God knows how many competitions, being the sucker for attention that you are. Uh, don't talk, I'm not done! Did you really think I wasn't going to see what you were up to in the gym? Did you forget that we work out in the same gym together? Dumbass! You stupid dumbass! I heard you talking to that girl at the treadmill, and don't pretend like you were just coaching her! Complementing her plastic ass isn't part of being a personal trainer, you know! And then you thought you could kiss her without being caught while I was changing in the locker's room? Good thing I got out in time, or else I would've never find out how much of a big piece of shit you really are. It's over, Bobby. You've been caught, you dumb fuck! I've got to thank you though, because I couldn't have figured out a better opportunity to call you out on your shit. And you have the guts to accuse me of cheating… you're such a scumbag. Now if you'd excuse me, I'm going to get my stuff and leave. And when I come back, I expect you have already packed up and left. Got it?'

And without laying a single eye on her cheating boyfriend, the two-toned woman turned away, opened the closet and picked a few shirts, jeans and pairs of underwear. Judging by the silence in the bedroom (except for the rustling of the clothes), she was convinced that she had floored him with her revelation… which she actually was kind of proud of, but the pride wasn't enough to overwhelm the suffocating worry that she was feeling mostly. But then, when she was about to put in the third pair of jeans in her suitcase, a pair of hands that she knew so well grabbed the suitcase and flung it across the room, sending it crashing against a wall and leaving a huge dent in it. Pieces of clothing were flying everywhere and falling on the ground. Alerted, Kaitlyn looked up, only to stare straight at Bobby's seething face.

'You're not going anywhere, you bitch!' he furiously yelled at her.

'What the hell! Are you crazy?!' the two-toned woman yelled back at him.

'You're not fucking leaving!' And with that, Bobby slapped her right across the face, causing her cheek to feel like it had caught fire. Just before Kaitlyn could respond, her boyfriend pushed her onto the bed; in what had to be two seconds, he was on top of her, pinning her down by tightly grabbing her wrists; he was clenching them so tightly that Kaitlyn thought they were going to snap if she wouldn't get out of here.

'You're mine, you hear me?!' Bobby bellowed, sending droplets of saliva flying in her face. 'No other man can have you! I will flirt with whoever the fuck I want, but you don't! You stay with me and shut the fuck up!'

Normally any woman would be paralyzed with fear if they would hear the man they loved so much say something like this… but to Kaitlyn, those words only enraged her more.

'Get off of me!' And then, with all the strength she had, Kaitlyn rammed her forehead against Bobby's nose. A loud crack could be heard in the bedroom, followed by the cheating boyfriend's howl of pain. As soon as he let go of her wrists to cradle his bloody, broken nose while emitting another slur of insults, Kaitlyn shoved him off of her, followed by a powerful kick to his groin. Bobby screamed in pain once more, now unsure which painful part of his body to cradle with his bloody hands. If he would grab her now, he would probably kill her, Kaitlyn knew that; and she sure wasn't planning on becoming the next unfortunate woman to appear in the news as a murder victim of an aggressive, piece of shit boyfriend. Then she noticed the lamp on her nightstand in the left corner of her eye. There was no time to be wasted. Caught in a rush of adrenaline and the will to get out of here as quick as possible, the two-toned woman grabbed the lamp and swung it against Bobby's head. The cord was yanked out of the plug next to the nightstand in the progress, causing the entire bedroom to go dark in the blink of an eye. Porcelain was shattered, along what was left of Bobby's enormous ego. He fell on the ground, instantly curling up in a fetus position while groaning in pain.

This was her chance. She had to go, now! Kaitlyn could barely feel her feet touching the floor when she rushed towards her suitcase and put in the clothes that happened to be lying near her. She closed the suitcase with only one of the two locks. A brief flash of lightning illuminated the bedroom for a split second as she ran past Bobby and out the door. As she ran down the stairs, she forgot to hold onto the railing, she wanted to get out that fast; only when she nearly slipped as a result of her hastiness, she held onto it until she made it to the bottom. In the hallway she grabbed her boots that where lying near the stairs and put them on, not even taking the time to tie the laces together; she swore to God that she had never put on her boots this fast in her entire life. Now where was that damn car key?! With her heart beating like crazy in her throat, the two-toned woman feverishly attempted to remember, which she thankfully managed to do; they were on the coffee table, she had left them there after she had come home from work. But just as she was about to run to the living room to retrieve the keys, she heard Bobby faintly groaning something in the bedroom.

'Come back… Come back here, you… stupid bitch…'

There was no way in hell she was going to do that, but at least this confirmed that Bobby was still lying in the bedroom with that shattered ego of his. Kaitlyn ran from the hallway into the dark living room, where upon laying eyes upon the coffee table, saw what she was looking for, revealed by a single flash of lightning; it was the car key, with her purse lying next to it. Thank God. The two-toned woman grabbed both of the items and then proceeded to run back to the hallway, where the front door would be waiting for her. For one brief, terrifying moment, Kaitlyn expected Bobby to fly down the stairs like an evil spirit straight out of a horror movie, bloody face and all, to grab her and bash her head into a bloody pulp, but thankfully this was only a figment of sinister imagination; there was nobody on the stairs, yet, if she didn't get the hell out. The doorknob of the front door was just within her reach, luckily.

Kaitlyn opened the door and ran outside, cold raindrops immediately soaking her bare arms as soon as she got out. The car, a black Chevrolet Lumina, had been parked on the driveway, completely wet because to the rainstorm. The two-toned woman opened it as fast as she could and almost dropped the key after she managed to open the car, but managed to catch it in time. She opened the trunk, threw her suitcase in it and closed it with a loud thud. Then she opened the driver's door and got in, making sure to close the car afterwards. She put in the key and twisted it; she never thought she would be so relieved to hear the roaring of a car's engine.

In less than three seconds, she drove off the driveway, turned right and headed down the road while another loud rumble of thunder overlapped the screeching of the tires.


	2. When We First Met

**Chapter 2**

 **When We First Met**

Man, he had hit her pretty damn hard… even now, Kaitlyn could still feel the stinging pain that the impact of Bobby's slap had left on her cheek. Only she realized how much the slap had made the world around her look like it was caught in an earthquake, it was weird that she only remembered that now. Was it because of the adrenaline she was feeling after she was done calling him out for the hypocrite that he really was? Probably. She did remember that she could barely feel the pain at the moment, though. That had been the very first time that Bobby had hit her… who knew that bastard would've been capable of that. But right now, it was the last thing that she wanted to think about; the two-toned woman had the feeling that the scumbag who was now her ex-boyfriend was following and she wasn't able to shake that off, no matter how many she checked the rearview mirror. Yes, she knew it didn't make any sense, she had taken the only car they owned and Greene City was far behind her by this time, but still… there was still that chance that he had found another way to follow her.

It had been one hour since Kaitlyn had left her home to go to Hope's Creek and she was still driving. The raining had stopped, but brief, bright flashes could still be seen now and then in the dark night sky, followed by muffled rumbling. Even she really didn't feel like doing it at all, the two-toned woman decided to glance at the rearview mirror for one last time, just to make absolutely sure that she wasn't being followed by Bobby. She needed to get rid of that feeling in order to focus on what was most important at this moment; AJ. She was way more important than any ex-boyfriend in the world. Kaitlyn shifted her attention from the road to the rearview mirror, hoping deeply that she wasn't going to see what she feared for. There was another car driving behind her. At first the two-toned woman couldn't get a clear view on the driver, which slightly unnerved her, but when she took a second look after looking back at the road in front of her for a few seconds, she saw in the faint light of the taillights that the driver was a middle-aged woman with blonde hair that was obviously dyed. No Bobby, thank God. Kaitlyn sighed in relief and stared back at the road. She could already feel the paranoia somewhat wearing off.

'Come on, Kait… you've got to focus.' she mumbled to herself.

The road she was on now wasn't exactly deserted; a car would pass her by now and then and every couple meters, there was a dimly-lit lantern pole installed next to the road. And now that Kaitlyn was feeling a bit more at ease, she had to admit that it was good to know that she wasn't the only person driving here at this time. If there was one thing that unsettled her most, that would be dark, abandoned roads, because you would never know what you could possibly encounter. It's so easy for your imagination to run wild when you're alone at night. The thought of driving on a long strip of road, alone and far away from civilization, and someone or something terrifying stepping out of the darkness and into the light of the headlights would always make goose bumps appear all over the two-toned woman's arms. But hell, if driving on an abandoned road at night would make her find out about why AJ hadn't been answering her calls for three days, then it would definitely be worth it. If some creep would come running at her car wielding a knife or gun, she would floor it like a motherfucker and not look back for one second.

As Kaitlyn continued to drive down the road for the next half hour, she noticed that it became increasingly harder to keep her eyes open. Her eyelids felt so heavy and she had already let out a couple of yawns. She knew how tired she was, but tried her best to stay awake nonetheless by turning up the volume of the radio, which just happened to play a classic rock song at the moment, her favorite genre of music. A nice song to play on a thundering summer night, but the two-toned woman didn't really think about that now. What she needed to be concentrated at this moment and nothing else. It would be three hours (or more… God, the sleepiness was killing her, she had no idea what time it was) until she would arrive in Hope's Creek, hopefully she could stay awake until then. But as the minutes ticked by, Kaitlyn was forced to admit it; if she would continue to drive any longer, she would surely fall asleep behind the wheel. And now that she thought about it… getting in a fatal accident because of sleep deprivation wasn't going to get her any closer to Hope's Creek. No, she wasn't going to be another article in the newspaper about an unfortunate sap that crashed against a tree or guardrail because she couldn't stay awake anymore. She had to find a place to sleep, right now. The two-toned woman was certain that her wallet was in her purse, but she wasn't sure how much money was in there. Hopefully enough to pay for one night, which she dearly hoped. And what if she couldn't find a motel? Well… she would sleep in the car next to the road, she figured. Kaitlyn forced herself to keep her eyes open, hoping to spot a motel as soon as possible.

Then, after fifteen more minutes of driving, it looked like luck had been on her side once again tonight. She saw it in the distance; an L-shaped building with two floor on the right side of the road and a large sign with 'Motel Morningstar' (Such a typical, corny name for a motel… it almost made Kaitlyn chuckle in amusement) written in large, bright red, neon letters placed near the parking lot. The sign also advertised a pool and cable TV. Thank goodness, a place to crash for tonight. Kaitlyn just secretly hoped that the place wouldn't be too shady for her taste… Turning on her blinker, she headed to the right, off the road and onto the parking lot of the motel. A couple of cars were parked on various spots, meaning that she wasn't the only guest here. Just as the first thirteen seconds of Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The U.S.A' could be heard on the radio, Kaitlyn shut off the engine. She got out, opened the door of the backseat to grab her suitcase and closed the car. A lukewarm breeze rolled across the parking lot, followed by rumbling thunder in the distance. The typical but pleasant smell of concrete cleansed by fresh rain was all around her as she made her way to the office, which was at the entrance of the parking lot. The light was still on in that building; a few moths and mosquitoes were dancing around the light of the lamp that was attached to the wall of the office. A woman who was slightly older than her was sitting behind the desk, too caught up in watching some cheesy soap on the small, old TV that was placed next to the computer. Kaitlyn could hear soft violins playing on the background while some woman hysterically sobbed for a guy named Alfredo to stay, for he was the love of her life and her hook-up with Samuel didn't mean a thing. Only when the two-toned woman knocked on the sliding window, she looked up; upon seeing the potential guest, she gasped and frantically muttered an apology before quickly opening the sliding window.

'Welcome to Motel Morningstar!' she said. 'What can I do for you?'

'Good evening, I'd like to book a room for only tonight. Is that possible?'

Just then, Kaitlyn noticed the worried look in the woman's eyes. She was staring right at her, as if she had something on her face… and the two-toned woman could easily guess what it was. She knew that she was looking at her cheek; the warm, slightly stinging sensation was still embedded on that patch of skin. The woman quickly glanced to Kaitlyn's left and right side, like she was checking if someone was with her and shook her head, though not in contempt.

'Be glad you got out of there, girl.' she said with a soft, sympathetic voice.

The two-toned woman sighed; damn, she had no idea that Bobby's slap had been that powerful to actually leave a mark. 'Yeah… tell me about it.'

After she received the key to her room from Caroline (which was the name that could be seen on the name tag pinned on the woman's blouse), Kaitlyn took the stairs to the second floor of the motel, walked through the corridor and opened the door of room 25. Upon stepping inside, closing the door behind her and turning on the light, she found out that spending one night here wouldn't thankfully be that bad. There was this faint smell of lemon lingering in the motel room, like it had been recently cleaned. The sheet on the bed showed some wrinkles, but that was about it. As long as there wasn't a dead body hidden underneath her bed, all would be good. Kaitlyn softly chuckled at that thought. Glancing at the red digits of the alarm clock on the nightstand, she found out for how long she had been driving; it was already 1:30 in the morning, dear God… she really needed some sleep.

Fifteen minutes later, the two-toned woman was finally lying in the bed, but despite the fact that she could've have barely kept her eyes open while driving, she was wide awake now. Tomorrow she would arrive at Hope's Creek and start her search for AJ. One way or another, she would find out why she wasn't answering her calls.

Man, she could hardly believe it had been seventeen years already… and she could still remember the day they first met like it was yesterday.

It was a summer day in 1980 in Hope's Creek, Maine. A Saturday, to be exact.

* * *

Bright sunlight shone upon the wooden floor of 13 year-old Kaitlyn Bonin's bedroom through the open window, along with a fresh breeze that gently lifted the curtains. Birds could be heard tweeting outside, completing the whole scenery of how a calm, peaceful summer day should look like. But to Kaitlyn, it was everything but calm, let alone peaceful. Once again, she could feel that agonizing feeling in the pits of her stomach, like she had swallowed a whole boulder. How many times did she feel like this before during this summer? She had no idea, she had lost count.

And the main reason why she was feeling so horrible was downstairs, in her own home, that one place where she supposed to feel at ease.

The girl was lying on her bed, curled up in a fetal position with her eyes clenched shut and a pillow pressed against her ear while pressing the other one against her mattress in a desperate attempt to shut out the shouting that she had been forced to listen to for what seemed like hours. Something was wrong, she felt it since the morning. From the moment she had joined her parents for breakfast at the dinner table, there was that awful atmosphere lingering around them, it was so tense that you could cut it with a knife. Her parents wouldn't look at each other, let alone share a conversation; when Kaitlyn asked about the weather of today, just for the sake of breaking the uncomfortable silence, the only response she got was a barely audible grunt from her father before he took another sip of his coffee. This pretty much confirmed everything for the young girl. Something had happened again, like it did almost every stinking day. She decided not to ask anything and stay out of this, like she always did. After breakfast, she went back upstairs and spend most of the morning reading comic books in order to distract herself. This proved to be effective, for a while, at least. Right when Kaitlyn was halfway reading a dialogue from Superman, all hell broke loose in the living room. She couldn't figure out which voice was louder and angrier, or what they were talking about. Whatever it was, it was easy to guess how it was going to end; in violence.

Just then, this guess was proven right. A loud crash echoed through the entire house. Something had been smashed onto the floor. A plate, lamp or vase. Whatever it was, Kaitlyn couldn't take it anymore. She had to get out of here, before she would go crazy! She got up, put on her shoes and exited her bedroom. Now that she was quickly making her way down the stairs, the yelling of her parents became clearer to her and it only urged her more to get the hell out of this house. She refused to listen at the toxic, hurtful words her parents were hurling at each other. They didn't notice her for one second. Kaitlyn walked to the kitchen and once she got there, she got out through the backdoor; their yelling was so loud, they didn't even hear it slam shut once she got outside. In the garden, Kaitlyn sprinted for the back gate, which lead her to the large clearing behind the house. Looking at all the grass almost made tears well up in the corners of the girl's eyes. This was the place where the family had so many picnics when she was a little girl. Her father would always compliment her mother for the delicious, freshly-made sandwiches and orange juice that she would make with so much love and care. Those were the days where her parents got along so well… it almost felt like an eternity ago.

God, she was so sick of this.

Right across the clearing were the woods of Hope's Creek. To Kaitlyn, it had always felt like the woods were a part of the house, like the garden was. It was because of this location that her parents decided to move here when she was around three years old. Both of them felt like the big city, where the crime rates had grown dramatically during the past couple years plus the noise of the seemingly endless traffic kept their child awake during the night, wasn't the right place for their daughter to grow up, so they decided to move to a quieter place. Hope's Creek, a town where approximately around 800 people lived, caught their attention. Kaitlyn couldn't remember much of the moving progress, but she did remember all the boxes full of items in the back of the truck when the day where they moved from New York to Maine; some of her favorite toys were in there and she was so bummed out that she couldn't play with them on that day. What she also remembered was the moment where her mother took her to the woods after they were done moving, to relax a little and explore the area around their new property. It had always been the woods that had made the girl feel at ease… more so than she was in her own house.

Setting foot inside the woods after she had crossed the clearing felt like entering a realm of peacefulness and quietness. It was here where the angry voices of her parents were out of her reach and out of her mind. It was here that her troublesome home situation took a backseat and almost seemed to disappear in the background. Kaitlyn continued to walk deeper in the woods, further and further away from her home. She took a deep breath and almost immediately she felt a bit calmer. She listened to the rustling of the tree leafs, which softly rustled in the summer breeze that rolled across the woods. A small amount of earth found its way into her shoes, staining her socks light brown, but she didn't notice much of the sensation. Thank God, she finally got the chance to breathe and clear her head. Things were spiraling out of control at home, big time. Every little thing seemed to set her parents off in a huge fight, but the two things that triggered most of their fights were the finances and her mother's jealousy towards the pretty secretary at her husband's work. Kaitlyn remembered being scared of a divorce in the past, but now that she thought about it… maybe it would be better. Their fights had ruined the whole atmosphere in the family home, it was because of them that their daughter felt miserable on almost every single day. Yes, of course it was normal for parents to have a fight now and then, but this… this was beyond unhealthy. And there was nothing Kaitlyn could do about it, she did try it once; but it only resulted in her being sent to her bedroom without dinner.

Kaitlyn stopped for a moment to look over her shoulder, wondering if her parents had finally noticed her absence. She was all on her own. The clearing and her home were far out of her sight. The girl let out a sigh. Of course… why did she even bother? It looked like they were more interested in screaming and fighting each other than their own daughter. That bitter thought made Kaitlyn hate her home situation even more. She continued to walk, trying her best to calm down and clear her head. She knew exactly where she was going, she knew the way around in the woods like the palm of her hand. The further she would get away from the constant fighting, the better. Maybe she could build a little hut here and start a new life there… anything would be better than to be forever stuck with her parents.

After a few minutes of more walking, Kaitlyn arrived at a spot in the woods that she knew very well. If you travel to the north, you will find yourself walking up a hill. Once you would reach the top, there would be a bridge that connected this hill to the one on the other side. Five meters below the bridge, there was a wide, deep, long river, a quite unpredictable one. On some days, the current would be calm enough for people to be able to swim there and cool off, but on other days, you would be bound to be dragged along with the water if you dared to dive in. Rumor in this town had it that this was the river the town's name was based on. But then why didn't they call it 'Hope's River?' Kaitlyn didn't know. Grown-up logic, she guessed. As she stood in front of the hill, she could already hear the water of the river splashing against the rocks, along with that soothing sound of streaming water. With little trouble, she walked up the hill. She almost slipped, resulting in more earth ending up in her shoes and this time she was feeling it. She would empty her shoes as soon as she would sit down on the bridge. At least she would be treated with a wonderful view of the river, woods and mountains if she would do that.

In a matter of seconds, Kaitlyn reached the top of the hill… and it became clear that she had never been alone in the woods.

A girl from around her age was standing in the middle of the bridge, gazing down at the current below her with an almost emotionless look on her face, not noticing her presence for a second. She had long dark brown hair, tanned skin and was quite petite, slightly shorter than Kaitlyn. She was wearing an old pink t-shirt, denim dungarees with her tear in the left leg and white, earth-stained sneakers. One thing that Kaitlyn immediately noticed about the girl was the dark, large, angry bruises that decorated the tanned skin on her arms. Had she been fighting or did she make a really painful fall? Either way, something about it made her feel… uncomfortable. Just then, Kaitlyn noticed how close she was standing to the edge of the bridge. A harrowing thought suddenly went through her mind. Was she… going to jump?! Kaitlyn immediately felt the need to do something.

'H-Hey!' she called out, in an attempt to catch her attention.

It looked like this attempt had been successful. The girl blinked one time, turned her head and looked at her with a surprised look on her face. Maybe she thought she had been alone as well.

'Is everything alright?' Kaitlyn asked. 'Is there… something I can help you with?'

The girl opened her mouth, as if she was about to say something, but then quickly shut it. The surprise on her face disappeared. Her mouth turned into a vertical line as the look in her eyes changed; it was distrust. But why? Just then, Kaitlyn suddenly recognized her. She almost felt stupid for only recognizing her now, but then again, it did make sense. This girl went to middle school with her. She was in the eighth grade, just like Kaitlyn. It was a classmate, one who was much different than the rest. She was always on her own during lunch break and hardly talked to anyone; that was, if she would be present at school. There had only been a very few times that Kaitlyn had seen her during this past year, and even though she would always be present on the days where they had tests, she would almost never show up. Kaitlyn had to think about what her name was again… that's how little times she was at school.

'You're… AJ Lee, right?' she asked.

'Yeah.' the girl replied curtly. 'What about it?'

'Nothing, I just wanted to know if everything was okay with you. I mean… uh… you were standing so close near the edge, I thought-'

'That I was going to jump? Oh please. I'm not like that, you know.' AJ wryly chuckled. 'What wrong with just looking at the view?'

'There's nothing wrong with that!' Kaitlyn said. Yikes, got off at the wrong foot already. This was already getting awkward… how was she going to fix this? 'The view here is pretty, huh?' she asked. 'Looking at it always makes me calm. It always reminds me of a painting, or something like that. Do you come here often too?'

'Um… yeah. Sometimes.'

'I always come here when something is troubling me. This is the perfect place to clear my head, I always feel a lot better when I go back home.'

'Hold on… now I remember you. You're Kaitlyn! Aren't you that girl who lives in that rich part of town? That part with all the expensive houses?'

'Y-Yeah, that's right. My house is really close by, actually. Do you feel like coming over? It's pretty warm today, I can get you something to drink if you want to! I think there's still some lemonade in the fridge!'

AJ curled her mouth into a small smile, but shook her head. 'No thanks, I'm good. I think those people in your neighborhood will give your weird looks for bringing… someone like me to your house. Look, I have to go. I guess I will see you around one of these days. But thanks for the offer, though!' Then the petite girl turned around and walked away from her.

'Wait a minute!' Kaitlyn said. 'Do you think we will talk again soon?'

Those words made AJ stop dead in her tracks. It was quiet for a little moment. Then she looked over her shoulder and much to Kaitlyn's surprise, she still saw some distrustfulness in her eyes. Why? She had been so friendly to her...

'Well… maybe. We'll see, okay?' she said. 'See ya, Kaitlyn!'

And then AJ ran off, across the bridge and deeper into the woods, out of Kaitlyn's sight.


	3. Trapped In The Dark

**Chapter 3**

 **Trapped In The Dark**

Someone must have hit her over the head with a sledgehammer, it was hurting that much. It had to be, she couldn't think of something else. It was the pain that made her head feel like it would fall into pieces as soon as she dared to lift it that AJ Lee felt first.

The next thing she felt was the foul taste in her own mouth; it was like someone had stuffed it with mud. Everything was dark around her, because her eyes were closed. Strangely enough, she hadn't felt anything at all before it suddenly arrived to pull her out of her sleep… and it was a sleep that lasted for a century, or so it seemed like it. Had she been drinking last night? She tried to remember, but doing so made a heavy jolt increase the pain. AJ let out a soft groan. She waited for a few seconds for the jolt to pass, hoping to be able to remember something, no matter how small it would be. Then she tried again. The pain returned again, growing more and more severe, but the petite woman did her best to ignore it as much as possible. Damn it, there had to be a scrap of memory in her head, it had to be! Her head felt like exploding, so badly that it almost made tears of pain well up behind her eyelids, and AJ was forced to give up. It was no use; there was a huge, empty gap in her mind where absolutely no memory could be found. The petite woman grunted in frustration.

Just then, AJ felt her cheek was lying on something cold and hard. The stale smell of dust filled her lungs each time she breathed, pulling her further out of her drowsy state. There was no way her head was laying on the pillow of her bed in the motel room. Or… what if she had somehow fallen out of her bed and spent the rest of the night sleeping on the floor? But this floor was pure concrete… and thanks to a sudden, brief piece of fresh memory that swiftly shot through her aching head like an arrow, AJ managed to remember that her motel room had a carpet floor that smelled like a cheap disinfectant. The petite woman began to slowly open her eyes, forced to close them briefly when it caused another sharp jolt to travel through her head only a second after. She tried it once more, successfully this time.

It didn't matter whether she had her eyes open or not; everywhere she looked, she saw absolute darkness.

'What… What the hell…?' AJ whispered in shock, barely able to speak. Her throat and mouth felt dry, her tongue felt swollen and was sticking against the roof of her mouth, but she didn't feel thirst for a moment. Oh dear God, had she gone blind?! Right on that moment, she felt another sensation that only increased the panic by tenfold. Her arms were tied behind her back, held together by something that felt sticky on the skin of her wrists. Was it… tape? The muscles in her arms felt sore. She must've been lying in this position for hours… maybe days, even. But it wasn't only her arms that had been tied together; her ankles had been bound as well. The panic had now fully kicked in with full force, completely snapping her out of whatever drowsiness was lingering inside her.

'Help me!' the petite woman screamed as loud as she possibly could, her voice making her throat feel like it was being rubbed raw with sandpaper. 'Somebody help me!'

She started to wiggle around in a desperate attempt to break free from her restraints like a caught animal, but to no avail. Whoever had tied her up wanted to make sure she couldn't easily wiggle her way out of the multiple layers of tape. Jesus fucking Christ, for how long had she been out cold?! It felt like ages, no, centuries… and the gap in her mind wasn't helping at all. Her breathing quickly increased in pace, going way too fast. She was hyperventilating, the petite woman realized. She had to calm the fuck down, or else she might pass out. And if that happened, she wouldn't find a way to get out, or find another scrap of memory that might help her out. Despite the overwhelming panic, AJ tried her best to concentrate on her breathing, closing her mouth and breathing through her nose. Thankfully she succeeded just before her head started to feel light.

'Come on AJ… think… think, goddamn it…!'

Suddenly, the gap was filling up as she dug deeper. The memories were blurry and they were merely bits and pieces, but still… they were the only memories AJ had before she somehow ended up in this mess.

It was nighttime. She had just exited a restaurant that she hadn't seen before in Hope's Creek, she guessed it was built sometime after 1980. It was a Chinese restaurant; she had forgotten the name of that place and what she had ordered, but she was absolutely sure that it was Chinese takeout. Just as she thought about the food, the petite woman's stomach loudly growled like crazy, bringing along such an intense hunger that she thought her stomach was rotting away. Oh God, how long has it been since she had a meal? No, come on, focus. She was exiting the restaurant… what happened next?

She was crossing the town square near the town hall, with the plastic bag of food still in her hand. She remembered a large group of people standing there, gathered in front of a stage that was pretty large. Speakers had been attached to the lantern poles that were installed around the square. There was this stand that sold cheap beer; she remembered the smell of it. Rock music could be heard, along with the voice of a male charismatically announcing the name of a new song he had finished writing; the petite woman's didn't remember the name, but the response he got was loud cheering from the crowd. AJ had been looking at the stage, she did remember seeing a man in his late thirties standing there, with long brown hair, neatly trimmed facial hair and piercing blue eyes, dressed in a purple leather jacket and a pair of black jeans and combat boots. He was playing on an electric guitar as he sang, and honestly, he wasn't that bad. He was pretty good, but not enough to make it in the big industry, if you'd ask her. AJ could've sworn she had seen his face somewhere before; she had seen it on posters that announced this little concert, she had seen them everywhere. The Brian Kendrick; that was the guy's stage name. She had watched the show for a little while, but after she decided that it was nothing too special, she had walked away.

The following memory was a bit more blurry than the rest, but not blurry enough for her to fully forget it, thankfully. She was in her motel room. She remembered carton food containers on the table, stained with small drops of oil and a noodle string lying here and there. And there was the typical, spiced smell of the takeout. AJ had no idea what she had been doing at that moment then, but she could remember hearing strange, faint rambling in the bathroom, right after she finally noticed that the window had been opened. Did she feel… fear, back then? Suspicion, maybe. AJ had been looking in the bathroom, she was certain of that. It was empty. She was the only person in the motel room. But then again… maybe not, after all; because as soon as she had turned around to leave the bathroom, everything went black.

That was all she could remember.

All of a sudden, a click could be heard somewhere in the darkness. AJ looked up, her eyes wide open and her heart rapidly beating in her throat. A thin ray of light was formed in front of her, up in the air, which quickly expanded in width. There was the sound of creaking; an old door was being opened. The light soon filled up the entire area. AJ finally managed to get a proper look around her. She was indeed lying on a floor, surrounded by nothing but old toys, which were taking up most of the space in the small prison. There was a rocking horse of which the white paint was already chipping off the horse's wooden body, a pile of plush animals and dolls were collecting dust in a corner, toy chests were piled up one another and a bookcase was crammed with pastel-colored books. A cellar, AJ realized; she was being held captive in a cellar this entire time!

But as soon as she looked up, the petite woman's heart instantly dropped to her feet.

Oh God.

No.

It was him.

Standing in the light, right on the top of the flight of stairs, she saw the shape of a monster that had been haunting countless dreams she had since the age of thirteen. He looked even taller and more frightening with the light behind him. The suit was exactly as she remembered it. It was that same old, frayed, stale-smelling rabbit suit. The entire suit was made of brown plush, with the exception of the large, round, elongated patch of white on his belly. A lilac waistcoat and a large yellow-blue striped bow tie were worn over the plush. The person was wearing a pair of gloves, made from the same fabric. The mask, which covered the head and twisted mind of whoever was wearing this costume, completed the look. The expression of the mask was that of a cartoon rabbit; large eyes with black, pacman-shaped pupils, a small pink nose and a mouth with only two buckteeth that was frozen in a freakishly wide, open smile. AJ found herself scooting away deeper into the small cellar in an attempt to get away from her kidnapper, doing so until her back touched a wall behind her.

Goddamn it, she should've known… he had found her!

'You've finally woken up, my dear little AJ…' the person spoke with an unnaturally deep, distorted voice. There had to be a voice box hidden underneath that bow tie, it just had to be, no human being could ever speak like that. 'What a relief, you had been out for days, I almost feared I had beaten you to death! My my, it has been such a long time. And look how much you have grown! You have barely changed, my dear girl. Don't you remember me? It's me… Mr. Buns.'

Mr. Buns walked down the flight of stairs. Once he reached the bottom, he walked towards AJ, who had no idea which emotion was taking the upper hand; fear or anger. Scooting all the way back to the wall proved to be a foolish idea. With the toys around her, she was closed in. And her kidnapper was getting closer and closer to her with each step.

'Get the fuck away from me, you son of a bitch!' the petite woman yelled at him. 'You sick fuck! I'll kill you, I swear to God, if I get out of here I'll fucking kill you! You hear me?! Fucker!'

Now standing in front of her, Mr. Buns didn't seem to be bothered the slightest by all the furious words AJ spat at him. He knelt down and retrieved something from the pocket of his waistcoat. It was a yellow measuring tape.

'Don't you dare to fucking touch me! No!'

Still ignoring every word his prisoner said, Mr. Buns managed to wrap a part of the measuring tape around her waist, despite the fact that she was wiggling so much to avoid his touched. Then he sized up the length from her hips to her knees, her shoulders to her elbow and her collarbone to her waist, all while humming a soft tune that sounded more terrifying that it should've been, thanks to the almost demonically deep voice.

'There, that should do it…' Mr. Buns said. 'Now you have to go back to sleep again for a bit longer, okay sweetheart?'

'Wha-'

Just before AJ could react, her kidnapper pressed a drenching wet, stainless white handkerchief against her nose and mouth, making it almost impossible for her to breath. She shook her head and let out another slur of insults, but these were muffled by the fabric and Mr. Bun's gloved hand. There was hardly any smell, but it only lasted a mere couple of seconds before AJ's head began to feel lighter and lighter and her vision grew misty.

Then everything went dark once more.


	4. Little Pretty Outcast

**Chapter 4**

 **Little Pretty Outcast**

She just wanted to disappear in thin air right now, she didn't want to show up like this. This was so not her, it was not her style, but she had done for the sake of keeping the peace in her home and nothing else. It was one of those days again. She was doing this to prevent things from getting more tense… it would help, but not much.

It was Monday morning; time to go back to school for every kid that lived in Hope's Creek, whether they liked it or not. Kaitlyn was walking on her own, as she did on every single school day in the summer. There was no need for her to catch a bus. Hope's Creek Middle School was a few blocks away from her home, plus she always thought that it was way more pleasant to walk during summer time than being crammed up in a hot, stuffy bus with a bunch of other kids. She had always been walking alone and today it was probably a good thing that she did so, because she felt so embarrassed by what she was wearing. She could name a few who would definitely be tempted to make fun of her, but she knew at least one who wouldn't. Of course Liv, her friend who she knew since fifth grade, wouldn't ask or say anything else about the matter once she would explain it. Okay, maybe she would make one little joke about it, but that would be about it. Hopefully.

If there was one thing that Kaitlyn absolutely hated, that would be ridiculously cute dresses; and yet she was wearing one on that very Monday morning, because her mother practically forced her to.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the girl had an idea of why she did this to her. It was like her mother sometimes saw her as a doll that she owned. A doll that she could dress up however she wanted, despite knowing damn well what kind of clothes the 'doll' actually preferred. Mrs. Bonin knew that her daughter loved to dress in t-shirts and jeans, preferably if they slightly oversized and weren't too colorful for her taste, ever since she was five years old. Around that time, she found more fun in climbing in trees, make catapults out sticks and ropes and rolling down hills than playing with dolls and stuffed animals. Kaitlyn had lost count about the amount of times her mother sighed in frustration whenever she came back from playing in the woods and saw that her clothes were ripped and stained with earth. She was pretty certain that her mother had always wanted to have girly girl as a daughter than some tomboy, but she never cared. Making her wear those stupid dresses was her mother's way of having some control over her. The dress she was wearing now was the newest collection to her wardrobe; she had gotten it two days ago, on Saturday.

After spending almost an hour playing in the woods and trying to get her mind off her uncomfortable home situation, Kaitlyn dared to return to the house, assuming that the worst part of the fight was over. She easily managed to find her way back, slightly nervous about what she was going to find when she would come back. Either they would've buried the hatchet (which would only last for a week or two, knowing them), or the floor would be covered with pieces of plates, vases and their marriage. The girl remembered the nervousness growing as she crossed the clearing behind her house. Once she got inside, it was the moment of truth. Only one thing had been shattered; she was convinced that it had been the snow globe that some distant aunt had given her parents when they moved in their new home, because she didn't see it on top of the TV, where it usually was. Her mother was sitting on the couch, she assumed that her father was upstairs; the car was still there. Mrs. Bonin had a fresh layer of make-up on her face… something she always applied after she had been crying. But she didn't look upset at all; in fact, she smiled broadly when she noticed Kaitlyn coming in.

'Ah, Kaity, there you are!' she had said. 'Do you also feel like shopping? You want to come with me?'

Despite what happened earlier, the atmosphere in the house felt slightly more pleasant, which Kaitlyn wanted to keep that way. That's why she agreed to go shopping with her. Mother and daughter hopped into the car and drove to Bangor, a city that was a couple miles away from Hope's Creek. They had lunch there and Kaitlyn genuinely had a good time… that was, until her mother persisted to take a look in a fashion store that displayed mannequins dressed in those disgustingly cute dresses in the window. From that moment on, Kaitlyn knew where this was going. And just like she predicted, her mother pushed her to put on every dress she thought looked great on her. Kaitlyn tried to get out of the situation by telling her mother that she had seen another store in the street that she wanted to check out, only to be met with a cold glare.

'You think I haven't seen those clothes? I already know they won't look good on you, Kaitlyn. I know what's better for you. Right now, I pretty much have the feeling that we drove here for nothing.'

A few minutes later, they both walked out of the store with a new, pastel blue dress with a pink ribbon tied around the waist. Mrs. Bonin was smiling from ear to ear when she talked about how everyone would love what she was wearing when she would go back to school; much to her agony, Kaitlyn had let her win, again.

It wasn't only about controlling her image alone, though. The girl had the feeling that her mother wanted to keep the image their fellow residents of Hope's Creek had of them as intact as possible. They were the Bonins, everyone knew them. Who knows how they would think about them if they knew about the seemingly endless arguing behind the closed doors… No, they had to be the perfect family; an example for all other families who lived in the town. They had a big house, a good income and a well-behaved daughter that was always dressed properly; that was the image of a perfect family in her mother's eyes, as well in those of her father's.

Living in her house was like living in a damn dollhouse.

'Hey! Kaitlyn!'

That familiar voice made the girl snap out of her thoughts. By this time, she had already arrived at the school gates, which was still open and allowing students to enter the property, all while talking and occasionally laughing. Liv Morgan, Kaitlyn's friend, was standing there, excitedly waving at her. She was slightly shorter than her friend, had long blonde hair, blue eyes and was dressed in a white, sporty tank top, a pair of baggy jeans, green sneakers and a black baseball cap. She was a tomboy, just like her; it was mainly that reason why the two girls got along so well. As Kaitlyn got closer, she noticed her friend's eyes locking onto her new dress; a small smile could then be seen on her face, just like she had expected.

'Let me guess, you went out shopping with your mom again?' Liv asked before letting out an amused chuckle.

'Yeah, but you really don't have to say that out loud, Liv.' Kaitlyn replied; her comment definitely had caught attention from some peers, who quickly glanced at her. A few chuckles could be heard and she dearly hoped it wasn't about her. She decided to try changing the subject. 'How was your weekend? Did you do anything special?'

'Nothing really on Saturday, but we had a BBQ at my uncle's place on Sunday.' Liv said while they passed through the school gates together. 'That guy must've bought the entire freaking meat section of the supermarket, you should've looked in the fridge! I think must have eaten five or six hamburgers or something, maybe more. I don't know, I have lost count after the third one.'

'And you didn't get sick?'

'Nope! Not for one second!' her friend replied and while she said this, she grinned with pride. 'But chances are I might skip lunch today, though. I still fell full when I had breakfast, no joke.'

Kaitlyn briefly chuckled and rolled her eyes. 'Why am I not surprised?' At least it sounded like Liv had a way better weekend than her… she kind of envied her for that.

'And how was your weekend, Kait? What else did you do besides shopping?'

'Uh… not much. I went shopping with my mom in Bangor and that's pretty much about it.' That's when Kaitlyn remembered something… or rather, someone. 'You think AJ Lee will be at school today?'

The blonde tomboy frowned in mild confusion. 'You mean that girl who's barely here? Why?'

'Just… wondering, you know.'

Maybe, AJ had said on that day in the woods before she took off. There was a chance that she wouldn't be there, but Kaitlyn secretly hoped it would be the opposite.

* * *

It turned out that AJ Lee had decided to show up at school this morning; probably because today they had a history test about World War Two.

Kaitlyn had spotted her when she, Liv and their fellow classmates entered the classroom. The desk in far left corner of the classroom that had been empty countless times, was occupied by the same girl she saw in the woods that day. She knew that there was a test, so there was a chance that she would be here. Even though AJ skipped school most of the time, it seemed like the tests were the only important thing to her. So she guessed she didn't feel like failing this school year… but then why would she be gone on so many days? Even though Kaitlyn had noticed her, AJ didn't do the same. The brown-haired girl had her sight focused on doodling in her black notebook; at least, that's what Kaitlyn assumed that she was doing. The tip of her pencil lazily moved across the paper, but from where Kaitlyn was standing, she couldn't really see what AJ was exactly drawing or writing. And there wasn't any time to greet her either; seconds after she had stepped into the classroom, Ms. Ferguson, their teacher and a surprisingly good-looking for a woman in her mid-fifties, set down at her desk in front of the group and asked the students to please sit down. Every student complied and the remaining chatter softly died out once everyone took place at their desks. The tests were soon handed out to each one of them. Kaitlyn didn't feel that nervous, she had enough time to study for it. While everyone silently tried their best to correctly answer as many questions as possible, she couldn't help but glance at AJ a couple times. Just like everyone else, she was focused on the test, but Kaitlyn noticed that it sometimes took longer for her to figure out the answer, occasionally biting her lower lip and barely audibly sighing in frustration. Time ran out half an hour later; Kaitlyn had to admit, she did feel pretty confident about the result, it wasn't that hard.

After two more classes, it was finally lunch time, easily that one time of the school day a student would pick as his favorite part of a school day. The students that arrived in the school cafeteria were almost instantly greeted with the smell of cooked broccoli and chicken nuggets. In a matter of seconds, the empty school cafeteria was filled with hungry students who were all in for a yummy lunch. A line was quickly formed near the kitchen; thankfully there was enough food to feed each student. Kaitlyn was one of the few kids who didn't feel like having nuggets with vegetables; the sandwiches her mom made for her this morning were already good enough for her, if you'd ask her. She and Liv walked to a long table, where some other classmates of them had already taken place, talking and often laughing while taking mouthfuls of their meals. The two girls sat down; it looked like Liv was still feeling a bit full from her uncle's BBQ goodness, because she barely ate from her own sandwiches.

As Kaitlyn was paying some attention to Alicia Fox boasting about how sure she was about winning first place again at next year's talent show with her singing skills, the sound of a chair being dragged across the floor made her look up. It looked like AJ had already received her lunch at the kitchen. There was an empty table in front of the one she and her fellow classmates were sitting; just like she had done at all the few times were she was present, the girl chose to sit down at the empty table to eat. It had always been like that, she had always been avoiding eating her lunch with her fellow peers on purpose. Nobody ever sat down next to her, not once did anyone bother to have a little talk with her. It was like AJ Lee didn't exist to her other classmates… did they even exist to her? For as far as Kaitlyn knew, she had been the only one who AJ had talked to (besides the teachers whenever they asked her a question); and it hadn't been during school time. Seeing her being this lonely made Kaitlyn a bit sad, but AJ didn't seem to be bothered, though. She barely looked around her while she took sips from her small pack of milk. Hell, she didn't even acknowledge the girl who she met two days ago.

Just as Kaitlyn wanted to pick up whatever remained of her sandwiches and sit down next to her, a small group of girls consisting of seven and eight-graders entered the school cafeteria. And it was one of those girls of who every eight-grader knew you shouldn't get on her bad side. Her name was Carmella Van Dale, the most popular girl of Hope's Creek Middle School. Her family just happened to live one block away from where Kaitlyn lived and her father was known to be the owner of a local successful car dealership, and the income he earned granted Carmella with the popularity some young teenage girls would be so desperate to have. Kaitlyn was sure that most of Carmella's group of friends consisted of girls who were hoping to be just as popular as her by hanging out with her, even if they couldn't stand her. Because if there was one other thing that she was well-known for, it would be her mean streak. And boy, did she show that. If anyone dared to go against whatever she said or did, she wouldn't hesitate to treat you like absolute garbage for the rest of the school year. Carmella knew how popular she was and she loved every moment of it, she felt like she was above anyone else, which she would also clearly show at times. Possibly another reason for some girls to try and weasel their way into her circle of friends in order to crank up their self-esteem, Kaitlyn figured. It was obvious that Carmella Van Dale was beloved and feared at the same time. Just then, the popular girl's eye fell on the lonely AJ, who didn't look up for a second. She poked one of her friends with her elbow, pointed at the outcast and grinned from ear to ear. Chuckling could be heard from the other girls. Then they began to walk towards AJ; Kaitlyn didn't like the way they were grinning and giggling for one bit. She could easily guess what they were going to do…

'Look who it is, girls!' Carmella exclaimed as she sat down next to AJ. 'If it isn't AJ Lee! Decided to show up for once, loser?'

That remark caused another collective chuckle to emit from her group of friends. It was like AJ didn't hear the insult as all, as she continued to stare down at the table while taking more sips from her milk. Absolutely no reaction. Carmella noticed this, which seemingly angered her a bit. She scooted closer to AJ and leaned her face closer to her ear.

'What's the matter? Think you're being tough by ignoring me? You know what you are? You are absolutely nothing! A total loser! That's all you will ever be! The only thing you're ever going to do for a living is getting fucked by creeps in an alleyway, because that's what you love, don't you? Crazy little slut!'

That's when everything happened in the blink of an eye.

When the dropped pack of milk was about one centimeter away from touching the floor, AJ had launched herself at Carmella like an enraged lion pouncing on its prey. Loud screaming echoed through the entire cafeteria, causing many heads to turn as the outcast grabbed the popular bully by her long dark blonde hair and pulled her off her chair. Fueled by anger, she managed to do so with ease despite the fact that she was smaller than her. The chair fell along with Carmella, hitting the floor with a loud bang. Before Carmella got the chance to fight back, AJ was already on top of her, screaming like a banshee while she began to punch and slap her face over and over again, occasionally slamming her face in the small pool of milk.

'Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!' AJ screamed repeatedly.

Just as she wanted to deliver another punch, a few hands grabbed her by her hair, pulling her off Carmella, who immediately curled up in a fetal position and started sobbing like a baby while her head was still lying in the milk. It appeared that her friends finally had the guts to step in. As soon as they yanked their victim towards them, they let go and started shoving her against the large window that gave everyone a view on the school's playground; at that moment, Kaitlyn knew that it was going to be AJ's turn to be beaten up. Just before the third kick to the outcast's body was delivered, Kaitlyn got up and rushed towards the group. With all the strength she had, she pushed away the girls who were the closest to AJ.

'Knock it off!' she shouted at them. 'Leave her alone, will you?!'

'She started it!' one of the girl replied while pointing at their victim.

'No, it was Carmella who started it! All of you dumbasses know that! Now back the hell off, or you're going to have to deal with me, got it?! Now go away!'

It seemed like those words had an effect. The group fell silent for a moment, then slowly backed away. Carmella, whose hair was soaked in milk and had to use a chair to pull herself up, was sobbing hysterically. Nobody spoke a word in the cafeteria, it was completely quiet; that is, if you didn't count Carmella's sobbing as a noise. Blood trickled from the wound on the popular girl's lower lip.

'You bitch!' she cried. 'I'll get you for this! I swear! You'll pay!'

Followed by her group of friends, she quickly left the school's cafeteria, while verbally hurling a string of insults to AJ.

Kaitlyn didn't notice it at the moment, but AJ was silently staring at her with big eyes in a mix of surprise and disbelief.

* * *

AJ didn't show up at class for the rest of the day after the fight, but nobody had seen her being escorted to the principal's office by a teacher; everyone assumed that she had taken off and left the school property.

The incident during lunchtime had become the talk of the day. It only seemed now that the students actually began to notice AJ's existence for once, but the reason for it was of course not that great. While some agreed that she did right by standing up to Carmella by nearly tearing her hair off, most of the eight-graders joked about how much her life was going to be a hell for the remainder of the school year. When someone said that the smartest thing AJ Lee could do was to move to Canada if she wanted to avoid Carmella's wrath, most of the class burst into laughter. Kaitlyn (and thankfully Liv) wasn't laughing at all. Two girls, who were friends of Carmella and happened to be in the same class with her, kept glaring at her for the rest of the day, but she ignored them. She knew she was in the right. She was mad at Carmella and her friends for what they did, but honestly, it were the other kids in the cafeteria she was mad at the most. Nobody got up to help AJ, there was no-one who was on her side at that moment. She knew she had to do something, because it was so damn unfair. Someone had to put those cowardly dumbasses on their place. And no, she wasn't afraid of Carmella either. That spoiled, loud-mouthed, trash-talking, miserable brat of a girl could go screw herself for all she cared.

The only thing she was wondering about was where AJ could possibly be at the moment; her chair remained empty for the rest of the day.

'Hey Kaitlyn, do you want to go to the pool with me?' Liv asked outside the gates when school was finally out. 'If you want, we can stop at my place to get a swimsuit for you!'

Her friend smiled and shook her head. 'No thanks, Liv. I have to pick up some eggs for my mom and come right home afterwards. Sorry!'

The blonde tomboy shrugged. 'Eh, no biggie. I'll see you tomorrow then! Try not to run into Carmella or her minions at the stores, okay?'

'Don't worry about me, I'll be okay! Smell ya later!'

'Bye, Kait!'

Then Liv took off, heading her backpack bouncing up and down as she ran into the opposite direction; she clearly wanted to make it to the pool in time before the sun would go down.

Mrs. Bonin had given her some extra money that morning before she went to school, she could've spend some money on the lunch, but she had to make sure she had enough at the end of the day to buy the eggs. The lack of eggs in the fridge was the first thing she complained about in the morning and of course, she had to blame her husband for not taking extra eggs during the last time they went out for groceries; luckily Kaitlyn managed to get out of the house before another senseless argument would take place.

The local supermarket was only ten minutes away from the school, so this little chore didn't last for too long. While she walked to the center of Hope's Creek, where most of the shops were located, Kaitlyn took it easy. She was not in a hurry, after all. There were no shows on TV she wanted to watch around this time and she knew that there would still be plenty of time for her to make her homework. Hell, she'd much rather make her homework upstairs right after dinner than doing it downstairs, where the arguments would be heard the clearest. The center of Hope's Creek was just as usual; not too empty, but not too crowded either. Every few seconds a car would pass her by, there were some other people walking on the sidewalks as well. Luckily Carmella or her friends weren't one of them. There wouldn't be any time for that bully to hang around in the town's center anyway, she had to rush home to wash the now soured milk out her hair as quick as possible. And that was probably a good thing. Kaitlyn turned around the corner, entering the T-shaped parking lot of the supermarket. There weren't too many cars parked there, she figured it would be much more crowded around six or seven o'clock or so. A payphone was placed a few feet away from the entrance of the supermarket, near a truck full of food that was being unloaded at the moment. There were also three benches placed in front of the huge store; one on the far left, one on the middle and one on the far right.

Kaitlyn couldn't believe who she saw sitting on the middle bench as she walked across the parking lot.

It was none other than AJ, leaning her head in the back of her neck after she had taken a sip from a plastic cup of fresh strawberry smoothie, something this supermarket was known to make. Her backpack was lying on the ground. She was either enjoying the pleasant warmth the sun produced this day or staring at the blue sky; or both, even. Had she been hanging around here after she took off? Did she even go home?

Kaitlyn couldn't help it.

'AJ!' she cheerfully exclaimed while approaching her. Her voice made the petite girl look up. As soon as she noticed her, she blinked her eyes two times in surprise.

'Oh… h-hi… Kaitlyn, right?' she asked.

'Uh, yeah. Exactly! What are you doing here, are you waiting for someone? Are you alone?'

'What's wrong with having a smoothie on my own? Is it obliged to have someone with you at all times nowadays?'

Again, that same, defensive attitude that she had in the woods… but Kaitlyn wasn't planning on letting it get to her. 'I wasn't saying that, I… I was just surprised that you are here as well, you know.' She replied. 'My mom told me to get some eggs, so I came here right after school.'

'Oh you goody two-shoes, you.' AJ replied, glanced at her feet and briefly chuckled. Her mouth had been curled into a smile during that, which quickly turned into that same, flat, emotionless line. 'Hey, look… uh…' She then looked up at Kaitlyn. 'Thank you for what you did for me back at school. I really mean that. Nobody has ever stood up for me before, because… well, I pretty much don't exist to them, if you'd ask me. I could tell you weren't one of them. So… thanks a lot.'

Holy smokes, did she just manage to let AJ Lee open up about herself a bit? Kaitlyn could hardly believe it. She sat down next to the petite girl, who surprisingly didn't protest against this.

'Is it because of Carmella that you don't come to school that often?' Kaitlyn softly asked with genuine empathy. 'You don't have to be afraid of those bullies again, you know. I won't let them get to you.'

'No, it's not because of them.' AJ shook her head and smiled. 'It's just that… school is so freaking boring, you know? Like, sitting there for hours on end, learning something that won't help you jack squat in the future while some bozo who thinks he's the boss of you tries to tell you how to behave, that's not my thing. At all. Nobody can tell me what to do. As long as I get some proper grades for the tests, I guess I'll be fine. Not that my mom…' She paused for a brief moment before resuming. 'Either way, school's nothing for me. It's so much more fun to hang out with the boys.'

'Boys?' For some reason, it reminded Kaitlyn of the insult that made AJ snap in the cafeteria.

'Yup! I've already learned more of them than I ever did at school! I don't freaking need it.'

Just then, Kaitlyn noticed that during the entire time AJ had been talking, she had sometimes glanced at her dress for longer than two seconds at a time.

'Is there something on my dress?' she asked.

Realizing that she had been busted, AJ quickly shifted her sight on her feet and shook her head. 'No. It's just that… I think your dress is super pretty. That's all. I… I have always liked those pastel-colored dresses, but I never got to wear one. I always wear this old, ripped stuff, I'm getting sick of it, to be honest.'

A magnificent idea suddenly popped up in Kaitlyn mind, it was so brilliant that it almost made her grin from ear to ear. This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of some of the disgustingly cute clothes that she hated with a fiery passion. And if she could make her happy with it, then there would be absolutely no problem at all.

'Hey, why don't you come over to my place tonight?' she asked. 'I'm pretty sure I still have some clothes that I don't wear anymore and will fit you. If you want, you can bring some clothes of your own. We could trade some!'

'Wait… are you serious?' AJ replied, slightly widening her eyes with surprise.

'Dead serious. You happen to have a paper or something in your backpack? I'll write my address down for you.'


	5. Welcome Back

**Chapter 5**

 **Welcome Back**

It was most likely a miracle that Kaitlyn hadn't slept through the blaring alarm the alarm clock emitted at exactly seven o'clock in the morning. It was almost impossible to open her eyes when the sound ripped her out of her sleep, they were stinging and her eyelids felt so heavy, which was pretty logical if you thought about the fact that she only had five and half hours of sleep last night; maybe even less, because she had been tossing and turning in an attempt to fall asleep for a while after she arrived.

The two-toned woman rolled on her side, let out a soft groan and reached out with her hand to shut off the alarm. The first time she tried, she touched the nightstand. The same happened during the second attempt. Third time was a charm; as soon as she found the right button, it immediately fell silent in the motel room.

For a split second, Kaitlyn expected to wake up in her own bed, the naked back of Bobby being the first thing she would see upon opening her eyes. But all of that changed when she realized that she was in fact lying in a bed where numerous guests of Motel Morningstar who came before her had spend the nights in. Sunlight illuminated the motel room through the large window and Kaitlyn would've still been lying in her bed to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere it had created if she hadn't remembered the plan she had before falling asleep.

She had to find AJ.

Without any second thought, the two-toned woman sat up, swung her legs over the edge of the bed and got up. Just then, she noticed she must have been sweating while she had been sleeping; maybe the night had become warmer. What she needed at this moment was a shower. Thankfully Motel Morningstar had enough of a budget to actually provide its guests with a cheap-looking, but functioning shower cabin. The tiles on the small bathroom's floor and walls were cream-colored and clean. A clean, unused towel had already been placed on the towel rack, ready for use. Kaitlyn got in the shower cabin and only got out when the hot water was just seconds away from running out. After she tried herself off, she brushed her teeth so fast that her gums started bleeding. Back in the room, she decided to put on the same clothes she had been wearing yesterday since they weren't really that dirty. After she had made the bed (because manners, that's why), she took her suitcase and purse and exited her motel room without looking behind her.

As she walked through the corridor of the motel's second floor, she saw that more cars had been parked on the parking lot during the night. Would the new guests still be sleeping by now? Probably so, they must've arrived later during the morning. Just then, as she looked at the blue morning sky and felt a brief summer breeze breaking through the mild heat, the following thought made a minor chill run up her spine. Would AJ be awake by now, or would she still be sleeping? But what if she was… No. Kaitlyn refused to think about that. Today she would definitely arrive at Hope's Creek and find out why she hadn't responded to her, there just had to be a reason for that. Any reason could be the answer and there could've been a whole bunch of reasons, but there was one of them that Kaitlyn knew was possible, but refused to think about. It just couldn't be. But what if it was…? The two-toned woman shook her head, like she was trying to shake that thought out of her head. Fuck that. The two-toned woman went down the stairs and headed towards the motel's office. She took out her wallet, hoping that one night at this motel would be affordable in the end.

'Hope you enjoyed your stay here!' Caroline said after she accepted one twenty one ten dollar bill from Kaitlyn. (That's when she noticed that half the money she had carried with her had just been spend. Damn.) 'I hope you aren't too hungry. There's a diner half an hour away from here, it will be on your right, you can't miss it.'

'Thank you very much. Have a good day!' the two-toned woman replied.

'You too. And good luck!' Kaitlyn noticed the encouraging little nod the receptionist gave her. She nodded back.

Just like she did when she left her home, but now somewhat less in a hurry to get away, Kaitlyn put her suitcase in the trunk of her car, closed it and sat down on the driver's seat. A few seconds later, the engine was successfully started and she drove across the parking lot and onto the road, soon seeing the motel disappearing in the background as she drove away. 'Goodbye Caroline, and good luck to you too with finding a good man who won't beat the shit out of you when he sees fit.' Kaitlyn thought to herself as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It was still early in the morning, but the temperature outside was already starting to rise. Now that she thought about it, it would've been useful if she had brought a bottle of water or something with her when she left. But hell, that would be the last thing to think about when you're running away from your enraged ex-boyfriend, right? Kaitlyn hoped to get some water at the diner, and if not, she could always get one at a gas station. She briefly glanced at the small red arrow of the car's fuel gauge on the dashboard. Thankfully it wasn't pointing at the much dreaded 'E' yet, it was just a few millimeters away from the 'F'. Would this be enough for a three hour drive? Kaitlyn hoped so, she really hoped so. Maybe she should put some more gasoline in it as soon as she would find a gas station, just in case.

The journey to her hometown continued. More traffic was present on the road, more than last night, but Kaitlyn wasn't too hindered by it. Motel Morningstar had been a decent motel and all, but it sure was a shame that they didn't have a breakfast menu. She remembered not being that hungry when she left, but as the minutes ticked by, hunger began to develop in her stomach. It wasn't that bad at first, but it didn't last long before the first growl was heard over the voice of the anchorman on the radio. (Unfortunately he didn't announce the disappearance of a certain woman called AJ Lee... was Kaitlyn really the only person who feared something had happened to her?) The thought of freshly baked pancakes didn't do anything to soothe the upcoming hunger, hell, the two-toned woman could swear she could almost smell it. While she stared at the road ahead of her, she hoped that the diner would show up at any moment. That had to be, because dear Caroline had told her it was just thirty minutes away. And she had been driving for ten minutes now. Oh dear.

But then, a few minutes earlier than expected, the two-toned woman finally saw a building next to the road that was without a doubt the diner. 'Hallelujah…' Kaitlyn mumbled and right after that, her stomach emitted another loud growl. She headed off the road and drove onto the parking lot, which was notably a lot fuller than the one at the motel; most of the vehicles were trucks and it took a little while to find a free spot. Unfortunately it wasn't a spot in the shadow; she hoped her car wouldn't feel like an oven by the time she would get back in. If there were a lot of people here, that would mean the food was good, right? At least, that's what the two-toned woman assumed. After she parked the car, she got out and headed to the entrance. Immediately after she set foot into the diner, she was greeted with the delightful smell of freshly baked bacon and pancakes, which only made her hungrier. Just as she thought, the diner looked pretty full; almost every table had been occupied. Most of the guests were the type of people you'd expect at a place like this; truckers, backpackers and families with little children, possibly on a road trip to a family member or a vacation home near one of the many lakes in Maine. The diner was crowded, but the place looked otherwise fine. Luckily there was a free seat left near a large window that showed a view of the long strip of road. Kaitlyn quickly sat down before it could be occupied, all while hoping that they hadn't run out of pancakes in the kitchen.

About fifteen minutes later, her hunger was silenced at last by a thin pile of fresh pancakes with a little chunk of butter on the top and a glass of orange juice. She had also ordered a large cup of coffee along with it, because dear God, she was going to need some caffeine. And man, did it taste good. While she ate her breakfast, Kaitlyn planned about what she exactly was going to do as soon as she would arrive in Hope's Creek. The very first thing she was going to do was a bit risky, but perhaps it would work. She was going to visit the house where AJ grew up in; with a bit of luck, her mother still lived there. The thought of that woman made her feel everything but comfortable, but what choice did she have? Yeah, she preferred any other family member AJ could possibly have over her mother, but she could have some clues about where she could be nonetheless. That is, if AJ would've dropped by to tell her about her plans… which wasn't very likely. And what could've happened to Roberta Lee during the past seventeen years? But hell, the chance was still there, and Kaitlyn was willing to take it.

The breakfast had been fully consumed and it surprised the two-toned woman that she didn't have to pay too much for it. When she got back inside the car, it thankfully hadn't fully turned into an oven on wheels just yet, but she could already feel the material of her shirt sticking on her back not long after she got in.

For the following three hours, Kaitlyn did only two things; focus on the road and wonder what the hell could've possibly happened to AJ. While her eyes didn't look away from what was ahead of her for a moment, her mind was somewhere else. It was in Hope's Creek, where AJ could be at right now, if she hadn't gone somewhere else. But for some reason, Kaitlyn had the feeling that her childhood friend was still there. It didn't matter at which location exactly; it was in her hometown, one way or another. And she still had to be alive. The two-toned woman could've thought of a whole bunch of reasons, from AJ simply deciding to be distant towards her to being taken by that… that… damn monster, but there was one reason that she refused to believe.

AJ Lee couldn't be dead.

No way in hell could she be dead.

And then, after hours of taking exits, bathroom breaks at gas stations, switching radio stations and stopping on the side of the road to look at the map, Kaitlyn ended up driving on a road that looked all too familiar to her… and it nearly sent a chill up her spine. This was the exact same road that had been on for many times during her childhood. The one she had been on for the very first time when she and her family moved from New York to Maine. Right now she was driving in a heavily wooded area; everywhere you looked, there were lively green pine trees, creating quite a soothing atmosphere for anyone who decided to go out for a nice, relaxing car ride. Oh yes, Kaitlyn knew exactly where she was. Her journey wasn't going to last long anymore. As she got closer and closer, she noticed her skin becoming colder by the second, even though by this time, the heath outside had increased so much that the air conditioner had to be put on full blast to make it more bearable.

That's when Kaitlyn saw the large sign in the distance; it had been seventeen years since she had seen that damn sign. It had a fairly simple design, it was completely made of plain wood, but it had something elegantly written on it in white paint.

'Welcome to Hope's Creek. Population: 1300. Hometown of rock star The Brian Kendrick! Enjoy your stay!'

By the time Kaitlyn passed the sign, her arms were covered in goose bumps.

She was home.

* * *

One hour before a certain childhood friend would arrive in the quiet town, the effect of the chloroform was wearing off on AJ Lee, slowly bringing her back to reality.

The pain is the petite woman's head had become worse, so much worse. It was so bad that she was afraid her head would fall apart if she would try to lift it, like it had been glued together with cheap, piss-poor glue. The same went for the taste in her mouth; it had turned so foul that the taste was enough to pull her out of unconsciousness. AJ's eyelids felt so heavy and for a moment, it almost looked like she was about to pass out again, but she somehow managed to not drift away. She opened her mouth to let out a groan of pain; when she did so, the petite woman accidently smelled the stench of her own mouth. It made her wrinkle her nose in disgust. But if there was one smell that overlapped that one, that would be the mustiness that lingered all around her. For a brief moment, she didn't know why, but… it was a familiar smell.

That's when AJ was fully ripped out of the dark world of her unconsciousness and thrown into the equally as dark reality.

Despite the immense pain in her head, the petite woman managed to open her eyes and slightly lift up her head. And yes, just like she expected, it felt like it was going to explode, but the adrenaline that was welling up made her feel barely any of it. Now she remembered everything. Her heart traveled to her throat with the speed of lightning when she realized she was still trapped in the basement of that sick fuck. Goddamn it, that fucking sick bastard! Almost immediately, anger clouded AJ's mind. Just then, she noticed something had changed. She was feeling colder than she did a couple hours ago. She couldn't see it in the darkness, but she could perfectly feel the cold, hard ground touching her bare skin. Her arms, legs, stomach, back and feet had turned freezing cold while she was knocked out; she felt that her bra and panties were still left on, though.

Her clothes… where the hell were her clothes?

The petite woman instantly felt sick to her stomach. That sick bastard had stripped her when she was out cold. He had touched her with his filthy paws. He had seen her bare body and she couldn't have done anything to hide it from him. Disgust and rage were fighting over getting the upper hand.

'Fuck…' AJ growled.

Then, something else took her by surprise… and it almost made her relieved. Her wrists and ankles weren't bound together anymore. He must have untied her while he was taking off her clothes. Did he forget to tie her back up again when he was done? AJ had no idea, but honestly, she didn't care. If she hadn't been this angry and disgusted, she would've laughed. Oh, that sick, dumb bastard. The petite woman was pretty sure the tape had left marks on her wrists and ankles, because they were hurting like hell, but she could think of something else that was going to hurt a lot more; that sicko's bloodied mouth after she had forced all his teeth down his throat.

This was it, this was her chance to escape. As soon as Mr. Buns would open that door, she would go for it.

Suddenly, a click broke through the silence of her prison, followed by a thin ray of light piercing through the darkness, making it eventually disappear and fill up the cellar/AJ's prison. The petite woman didn't have to guess who it was. Looking up, her assumption was proven right. There he was again. Mr. Buns… the motherfucker who ruined her childhood. With the light of the hallway (or simply another room) behind him, AJ could swear that it made him look taller. She had to blink her eyes a couple times due to the brightness.

'Good morning, my sweet princess!' Mr. Buns said, and he was genuine with this remark; he was talking to her like she was a beloved family member of his. 'I have made something for you…' Then he began to walk down the flight of stairs. Looking at his arms, AJ could see that he was holding a bundle, but the thought of finding out what it exactly was didn't cross her mind for a second. She counted down the seconds while watching his feet touch each step of the stairs as he got closer to the bottom. With each second, she felt her need for freedom and a dose of revenge building up. The petite woman was getting ready for it. Five… four… three… two… one.

Now!

One second after her captor's feet touched the basement's floor, AJ let out an enraged, ear-piercing scream, so loud that it caught him off guard. She got up, felt the tightened pain in her ankles and ran towards Mr. Buns as fast as she could. Her fists were clenched, ready to launch a couple of punches. She wanted to scratch, bite, kick, punch, everything she possibly could to get away from here and from him. The basement wasn't that big; within a few steps, she already got close enough to him AJ didn't hesitate for one moment to launch herself at Mr. Buns. Still screaming like a banshee, she managed to launch the first five punches to his chest and mask; the punches were hard, but surprisingly not hard enough to knock it off. That's when Mr. Buns promptly dropped whatever he had in his arms. In the blink of an eye, he pushed her away and grabbed her by the throat with one hand. He squeezed, hard enough to make AJ stop screaming. Her oxygen was abruptly cut off, she clawed at the gloved hand in an attempt to get away, but the thick, plush material made it impossible to inflict any pain. Mr. Buns, in a display of unexpected strength, lifted her two inches in the air before effortlessly throwing her back to the floor. The patch of skin on her elbow felt like burning; she must've scraped it during the fall.

'If you do that again I will bash your brains in, bitch!' Mr. Buns shouted. It was like a demon was shouting at her. In the blink of an eye, AJ's heart sank to her feet and the anger turned into pure fear. Due to this, her limbs went numb, preventing her of getting up and make another attack. She knew he meant every word of it; if she would do it again, he could easily find an object in the pile of old toys to smash her skull into smithereens. Even though the words had effectively frightened her, AJ refused to show him that she was in pain and glared at Mr. Buns, but didn't shout a single insult. It looked like the psychopath in the rabbit costume knew he had won this round.

'There, that's more like it…' he said, now with a softer, calmer voice. 'You need to behave, my darling. Little girls should not act like violent brats, it doesn't suit them. You're better than that, much better.' He knelt down to quickly pick up whatever he had dropped. Only now, AJ saw what it was. It was a pastel pink dress, with puff sleeves and white, frilly lace stitched on the hem of the skirt. But that wasn't the only piece of clothing she saw. There were also a pair of snow white socks and a pair of black shoes with straps. My God… only a little girl would wear those. It made a chill run up AJ's spine, and it wasn't light one.

'I have worked all night on this, just for you!' Mr. Buns said with a hint of pride in his distorted voice. He laid the clothes down in front of her. 'I have put my heart and soul in it. This is what you should wear. Like this, you will be perfect. Now, sweetheart, put them on. Put them on for Mr. Buns.'

It fell silent in the basement. AJ didn't say a word and didn't break off her glare for one moment. Seconds ticked by, but she refused to put on those clothes. Not for that fucker's sick pleasure. Mr. Buns seemed to realize this. In the blink of an eye, he fell on his knees and got so close to AJ that the mask was only a few millimeters away from her face; the stale smell of dust became unbelievably strong.

'Put them on, goddamn it!'

'Okay, okay! I will do it! Christ! Just get away from me!'

Standing back up, the psychopath had once again managed to get his way. Behind his mask, he was beaming with pride as he watched his 'little girl' do exactly as she was told. With trembling hands, she put on every piece of clothing he had worked on during the night, the small presents for her that he put so much effort into. How sweet of her to show appreciation for it. Did he see blood trickling down her arm? Maybe he would get band-aid for her elbow later, if she would behave. The dress and socks fit her perfectly, they were exactly her size, he had made sure of that. And those shoes, oh those shoes, they made her look so much pure than those ridiculous sneakers. After AJ put on the clothes, Mr. Buns realized there was one little thing left before her new look, her real look, would be complete. He grabbed a brush and two mint-colored ribbons from the floor; thankfully not much dust had fallen on the ribbons when they were dropped. He sat on his knees and began to gently brush AJ's hair, all while humming a cheerful tune, taking his time. The petite woman's entire body felt cold of fear by now. When he was done brushing her hair, Mr. Buns tied her long, dark brown hair in two pigtails with the ribbons. He stood up once more and again, it was silent in the basement… like he was silently admiring his piece of 'work'. AJ had never felt this small in her life before.

'Beautiful…' he eventually whispered. 'Absolutely perfect. You've been a good girl AJ, I'm so proud of you. You deserve a treat! Oh, I know! I will make you the best breakfast you've ever had, you must be so hungry! Let's have our breakfast together! I will be right back, sweetheart.'

And before the petite woman could react, her kidnapper had already turned around, walked up the stairs and closed the door behind him without looking back at her for one time. Click. There was silence and darkness. AJ was left alone again.

And whether she liked it or not… the pastel pink dress brought back precious memories to her.


	6. Dress Up Party

**Chapter 6**

 **Dress Up Party**

'What the hell is wrong with you, AJ?!'

No chance was given to her to defend herself during those few seconds where her mother absolutely lost it. It was like her rage increased her speed, something which always happened at those times. Just as AJ wanted to run away to the save zone that was her bedroom, where she would keep the door locked until her mother would either get out of the house or grow tired of banging with her fists on the door and calling her the worst names possible, Roberta Lee had already grabbed her by the hair. She had always grabbing her hair first when she was ready to unleash all hell upon her and the girl could've easily guessed why; she had inherited the hair color of her father, the man she possibly hated more than her own daughter. A sharp pain traveled through her entire head as her mother pulled with all her strength, it almost felt like this time she was strong enough to entirely rip her scalp off. AJ let out a yelp of pain, but as always, her mother was unfazed by this. She was just getting started. Roberta shoved her daughter to the floor, which hadn't been cleaned in weeks. AJ felt the stickiness that had formed on the dusty floor on her cheek; something she had felt a lot of times. She felt her mother grabbing her shoulder and harshly turned her on her back. Then she got on top of her, ready to beat the living hell out of her. AJ saw the look in her mother's bloodshot eyes: they were full with nothing more but pure rage and hate. And then there was something else in her eyes… the reason why she was acting like this. The girl's assumption had been proven right.

Her mother had been using drugs again today, but it did little to surprise AJ.

Suspicion already rose when she came home one hour after Kaitlyn had offered her to come over at her place. Unfortunately there hadn't been much time to talk more, because she had to pick up some groceries for her parents or something like that. She didn't follow her into the store, but her classmate did say goodbye to her after she got out. AJ remembered staring at her until she turned around the corner. There she went, off to the rich neighborhood, where her mom would cook up something fancy and serve the dinner on expensive, custom plates that were probably imported from Paris or Milan. And while they had dinner, she would most likely forget all about AJ, because who in the right mind would care about someone like her? Everyone in Hope's Creek knew who her mom was. Everyone knew she was her daughter. And anyone who was related to Roberta Lee had to be just as messed up as she was, right? Well, maybe so, in some way, but AJ was absolutely sure she was still less of a mess than that woman. The girl hung around the supermarket for a while longer, enjoying the warm sunlight while taking small sips of her smoothie. She wanted to get another cup, but unfortunately she had run out of change. Bummer, she would've liked to have another smoothie. She remained on that bench for most of the following hour until she decided that she had enough sunshine for today. That's when she got up and left, taking her time as she walked to her home. Who knows, maybe the supermarket's staff were sighing in relief about the fact that she finally decided to piss off, that is, if they noticed her in the first place. Her home was on the other side of Hope's Creek, she would arrive there in fifteen minutes or so if she would hurry up, but the girl was everything but in a hurry to get to that awful place. It was that one part of the day that she absolutely hated; going home. She had no idea what to expect, that was the worst part; it always made her feel like her stomach had wrapped itself into a knot. And so she took her time; but when she stood on the doorstep of that house she was forced to call her home, she realized that it had still possibly been a little bit longer than fifteen minutes. Her mother didn't open the door when she knocked, that was already a bad sign. Good thing she had a spare key in her backpack. When AJ got in and almost immediately adapted to the musty smell that lingered inside the house, she called out for that miserable woman. No response, not even after she repeated this two more times. Fair enough, she got the answer; she had probably locked herself up in her room again with a needle in her arm. Not that this shocked her, though; AJ had come home to this plenty of times throughout her life. And it hadn't been the first time she didn't feel like making her homework when coming home either; ignoring whatever was going on upstairs, AJ plopped down on the couch and switched on the TV. Commercials, music videos, cartoons, even a news channel for a minute, she lazily watched them all. And her mom didn't come downstairs during that whole time. AJ didn't really know how much time had passed, but she suddenly remembered that still had some clothes to pack up for Kaitlyn. And so she turned off the TV, went upstairs and after looking through her closet for a while, she decided to take two pairs of old jeans that were too ripped on the legs for her taste, an old grey hoodie with a large sunflower patch sewn onto the back and a dark green oversized t-shirt; somewhere, she hoped that these pieces of clothing would be good enough to trade for those super fancy clothes. Those were all the clothes she could take. AJ put them in her backpack and put it at the bottom of the stairs; she planned to drop by Kaitlyn's place after dinner. But even though it was around six o'clock, she figured that her mother still didn't feel the need or hunger to come downstairs to make a proper dinner for her and her daughter. No… the drugs already kept her fed, just like all the other times. This had been the third can of spaghetti with meatballs that AJ had heated up this week. Sitting in front of the TV and with a plate of microwaved spaghetti on her lap, she was once again forced to eat dinner alone… but she was used to that by now. This night was going to be different, though; she wasn't going to be alone for once.

But then, just as she was about to bring her plate to the kitchen, all hell broke loose. Her mom had come downstairs.

Roberta Lee screamed like a banshee as she began to hit the girl with her fists. AJ managed to shield her face with her arms, where most of the punches landed. More bruises… those punches were almost hard enough to knock her arms away. There was no point in trying to soothe her anger by saying how much she loved her, she had seen the rage in her eyes.

'Why is it still a fucking mess in the kitchen, AJ?!' her mother screamed. 'You promised you would wash the dishes! Retarded brat! Look at it! Why do you always do this to me?! You let me down once again, like you always do! Fuck you! Fuck you!'

She wasn't going to stop… AJ realized that there was only one way to get out of this hellhole.

The girl lowered her arms, sat up as much as the weight of her mother allowed her to and struck her nose with her forehead as hard she could. The screaming was abruptly cut short by a loud crack. Roberta cradled her nose and howled in pain, immediately spitting out a waterfall of foul insults towards her own daughter afterwards. This brief moment allowed AJ to escape, shoving the woman off of her and nearly tripping over her own feet as she got up. She had to get the hell out of here, right now. She knew her room was going to be no saving grace this time; as soon as her mother would get up, she would be able to rip the fucking door out of its hinges. AJ had already made it halfway the hallway before her mother had grabbed her; the front door was now become the gateway to her only escape. Without any second thought, she made a run for it, too afraid to look behind her. She could already picture her mother scrambling to get up her feet and chase after her to tear her apart like a wild animal. Just before AJ could pass the bottom of the staircase, she noticed her backpack in the corner of her eye. Refusing to stop for that one moment to pick it up, she managed to successfully snatch it up while still running for her dear life. The girl expected to hear footsteps behind her, but instead she heard hysterical sobbing. Though she refused to look over her shoulder, she could already picture her mother lying on the floor, curled up in a fetal position, still cradling her painful nose while wishing her daughter to go to Hell. The doorknob was within her reach. Without looking behind her for one second, AJ opened the door and sprinted outside, closing it behind her with a loud bang in an attempt to buy her some more time to run. Her heart had raced up to her throat by now, she nearly tripped over her feet when she reached the sidewalk. The girl continued to run down the empty street until she reached the old pick-up truck of a neighbor (a Vietnam veteran in his late 40s who would never be able to work or walk again due to his legs being blown off during a mission) who lived five houses away from hers. Only there, while hiding behind the vehicle, she had enough courage to stop running and look at the street behind. No enraged mother with blood running down her mouth, no screaming. Pure silence… which was only interrupted by the barking of a dog somewhere in the distance. AJ's legs turned into goo while she sighed in relief, clenching into her backpack's material with her trembling hands until her knuckles turned white.

'Thank God…' she sighed.

The girl stood there behind the vehicle until the rest of the adrenaline finally faded away, all while still staring at her house, expecting her mother to burst out at any moment, but thankfully nothing happened. Now convinced that it was finally safe, AJ turned around and calmly walked away. Screw that woman; she hoped that headbutt would've knocked the effects of those goddamn drugs out of her.

If there was one thing that was absolutely indescribable, that would be walking through a small town like Hope's Creek during twilight. AJ didn't know why, but… she loved having a walk during this time of the day. Looking at the sky, she saw that it had turned from bright blue in a mix of dark blue, pastel pink and bright orange at the end of the horizon. Here and there, she could also see the first stars of the approaching evening. There was also this very pleasant temperature, what made those summer nights so typical. As AJ continued to walk towards the 'rich' part of town, which she had avoided like the plague many times in the past, she noticed that this atmosphere helped her to calm down, as always. She didn't know why, but it had something so… dreamy. Yes, that was the right way to describe it; dreamy. It made her forget about everything; her mother the local drug addict, those bitches at school, everything. Sure, she wanted to get out of Hope's Creek as soon as she got the chance, but if there would be one thing she would miss about this town, it would be the walks during twilight. It was the only thing she genuinely enjoyed about this boring place. What made the scene complete were the street lights, which were switched on in the blink of an eye. Moths had already gathered around some of those lights and began their dance. It was so peaceful… AJ noticed that she was so relaxed that she was whistling a tune. It was a bit of a random thought, but would it be more of a relaxing atmosphere if she would smoke at this moment? She had never really thought about it before, but now she was really curious how it was like to smoke a cigarette. Maybe she could ask one of the guys to have one when they hang out again. She had heard plenty of times about how relaxing smoking could be, hell, most of her friends would often do it and they would always be calm while doing so. Yeah, she would definitely ask for a cigarette next time.

AJ didn't have to look at the paper in her backpack to remember the street Kaitlyn lived in. Flair Street, easy enough, she knew exactly where that was, but she wasn't entirely sure about the house number. Maybe she would look at the paper again when she would arrive.

It took her a little more than half an hour to get to the neighborhood near the woods that she once swore she would never, ever, enter in a million freaking years. Honestly, she could even hardly believe it herself. She was here for Kaitlyn, a girl who barely knew her and yet she was willing to fend off those suck-ups who dared to call themselves Carmella's friends. And she wanted to give AJ her own clothes as well. But why? Why was she only noticing her now, now that the end of the school year was getting closer? Only because she just happened to stumble across her in the woods? AJ had no idea. She stopped for a little moment to grab the paper out of her backpack. Banks Street 513. Alright, clear enough. As she walked on the sidewalk, AJ had the feeling that all neighbors somehow became aware of her presence and took their time to peek at her through the curtains, all while whispering about what the hell that Lee girl was doing in their neighborhood. Had Roberta Lee gotten so short on cash for her heroin that she sent her daughter here to steal their precious stuff? Even though nobody was actually staring at her, AJ could swear that the gazes of dozens of pairs of eyes were mercilessly drilling into her back. She tried to shrug that feeling off, but that was really hard. Always had been. It was never fun to be stared at by people like you're the purest scum of the earth just because your mother is a junkie, but she knew ignoring everyone was the best thing she could do.

Looking up, AJ realized that Kaitlyn's house was right across the street. The number 513 could be seen on one of the big, expensive-looking houses. It was obvious that the Bonins were home; a car was parked on the driveway and the lights had been turned on inside. Gotcha. Good evening, special delivery for Kaitlyn Bonin; three old clothes, previously worn by the daughter of Roberta Lee! Yeah, that would a good way to greet her parents. AJ chuckled about this while she crossed the street, but as soon as she got on the other side, doubt began to slowly creep up. She knew showing up on their doorstep was risky; chances were they would slam the door shut right in front of her face as soon as they would lay eyes upon her. The girl briefly stood still to check if there was someone in the living room. Thankfully it was empty, but still, she could swear she heard muffled voices inside. And they didn't sound too happy. Her parents were home, the chance they would be the ones to open the door was huge.

Sudden loud knocking on a window made AJ look up in surprise in an instant. It was coming from the left window on the second floor. The girl let out a sigh of relief; thank goodness, it wasn't Mr. or Mrs. Bonin. Looking down to the street, waving and smiling at her, was Kaitlyn. AJ waved back, but the smile on her face was rather small and shy in comparison to Kaitlyn's. She saw her repeatedly pointing her thumb to her left. Was she gesturing to walk to the side of the house? But why, though? Well, if it was for another way in, that would be nice. Making sure she wouldn't be seen by her parents, AJ quickly walked to the left side, where ivy was growing around a wooden, ladder-like structure that was attached to the wall, and looked up once more. There was another window up there; in less than three seconds, Kaitlyn showed up and opened the window, with the smile still plastered on her face.

'AJ! You came!' she said with a hushed voice, yet she sounded genuinely excited to see her.

The other girl softly chuckled. 'What? Were you afraid I wasn't going to show up? Seriously, you must be the first person who's happy to see me!'

The smile on Kaitlyn's suddenly grew smaller, like this comment worried her a bit. But she clearly decided not to let it ruin her excitement.

'I think there's a ladder lying near you, my mom has used it to trim the ivy this afternoon. Do you see it?' she asked.

She was right; a long ladder was lying on the neatly trimmed grass, close to the house. AJ nodded. 'Yup.'

'Alright, that's good! You can use it to get up here! But try not to make too much noise, okay?'

Well, AJ couldn't disagree with that. But then again, this meant that Kaitlyn knew who exactly she was trying to befriend… she couldn't think of another possible reason. Without thinking twice, AJ grabbed the ladder, which wasn't surprisingly that heavy. She turned it around and placed it against the wall as carefully as possible, staining the white wood with a bit of earth as she did so. Barely any sound was heard. Then she slowly climbed up the ladder, again trying to make as little sound as possible, only stopping when she heard creaking, dearly hoping it wasn't enough to alert Kaitlyn's parents. But thankfully they didn't come outside to yell at her to get the hell of that ladder and off their lawn, because AJ managed to reach the top. While she made her way through the open window, Kaitlyn decided to assist her. Grabbing a hold of her upper body, she gently pulled her through; only a little thump was heard when AJ's feet touched the floor.

'Thanks a lot for that.' she said while she got up on her feet. Immediately when she looked around her, AJ quickly realized she had definitely ended up in a world that was much different than hers. Hell, for one split second, she felt a bit of envy. This was the bedroom that every kid from her age would love to have. Two bookcases were crammed with books and comic books. Posters of rock stars and one single large flag of the United States decorated the walls. A desk that had plenty of room to make homework was placed in the far right corner. There was a small TV standing on a wardrobe standing in front of the bed's footboard, which was occupied by a row of stuffed animals. AJ didn't really notice it herself, but Kaitlyn did; while she was silently staring at all the stuff, her mouth had slightly opened in mild amazement.

'Wow… so this is your bedroom…' she said. Then she rapidly blinked her eyes, realizing that Kaitlyn had caught her gawking. 'Oh! Um… I brought some clothes with me that I think you might like!' AJ took off her backpack and zipped it open. While she took out the clothes, she knew that the moment of truth had arrived; either she would look at them with pure disgust or she would gladly accept them. Well, one way to find out about that right? She unfolded them one by one and presented them to Kaitlyn, holding it front of her and also briefly showing the back. 'So… what do you think?' AJ asked.

'I freaking love them!' she got as a reply, much to her relief. And she could see that Kaitlyn genuinely meant this; she took the hoodie and looked at the sunflower patch with a broad smile on her face. 'I especially love this one!' she said. 'Seriously, I might wear this when I'll go into the woods one of these days! Thank you so much, I absolutely love it!'

AJ let out a chuckle, a little bit unsure about how to react to something she barely got during her life; a compliment. 'You're welcome, that's… good to hear!'

'Now hold up, I also got some clothes for you. I have been looking through my closet when I came home and I found some clothes that I think you might like.' As much as Kaitlyn wanted to give away that stupid dress, she didn't want to risk her mother finding out about it. That's why she decided to give some of her older clothes that she hadn't been wearing for ages; she was pretty sure her mother wouldn't notice that. She put the hoodie on the footboard of her bed and walked towards her closet, before suddenly stopping in her tracks. 'Do you also like rock music?'

'Yeah, but why though?'

'Well, what's a fashion show without music?'

'But what about your parents? They will hear it, right?'

'Nah, don't worry about it, I always turn on the radio when I'm in my room at night when I'm making homework. And they never come to check on me, ever.' Because they would much rather sit downstairs, argue like crazy and give each the silent treatment afterwards while watching TV than to check on their daughter. Now that she thought about it, the volume of the TV would also slim the chance of hearing them. But what if they would still come upstairs? Even though that never happened, it was always good to have a back-up plan. Maybe AJ could hide under the bed before they could come in, that could work. There was a damn good reason she wanted her new friend to enter through the window; it was one of those nights where her parents once again decided to have another heated argument. AJ would never want to visit her again if she saw in what kind of environment she would constantly find herself in whenever she would drop by. That's why it was much less awkward to let her inside through the window. Kaitlyn honestly never thought she would ever be embarrassed by her own parents…

But there was no way in hell she wanted to let this get in the way of making a new friend.

Immediately after Kaitlyn switched on the radio, rock n roll music filled up the whole bedroom. Ever she was a little kid, this had always been her favorite kind of music; she absolutely loved artists and bands like ACDC, Jimi Hendrix and Van Halen. It became like AJ enjoyed the upbeat guitar riffs as well, because she was tapping the carpet on the beat of the music with her foot, while slightly nodding. Kaitlyn figured that this could be another thing they could possibly bond over. That would be so cool.

From that moment on, the fashion show in Kaitlyn Bonin's bedroom was ready to get started. She presented AJ with the clothes she had found during the afternoon; a light pink sweater which she had worn only three times or so when she was eleven years old (not really something you would wear during the summer, but she hoped AJ would like it either way), a white bolero with a silver, elegant pattern stitched on the sleeves, a light blue sleeveless dress with a mint green ribbon around the waist, a dark red skirt, a salmon pink t-shirt with a design of a white cartoon pony on it and a pair of white knee socks. AJ looked like a child who just received her Christmas presents, she looked so elated, she couldn't stop smiling while looking at all the clothes. Did she ever have clothing like this? For as far as Kaitlyn could remember, AJ always wore fashion that looked old, well-worn and stained on the very few days she showed up at school. It made her briefly wonder… how was her home situation like? Didn't her parents have the money to get her new clothes? And did they even know their daughter had been skipping school so many times? Whatever it was, seeing the happiness on AJ's face made her feel like she had done something amazing for her. One by one, while humming along with the music, the girl tried on her new clothes. Thankfully they all fitted her perfectly, even the socks were her size. She took her time to admire her reflection in the large mirror that was standing next to Kaitlyn bed, making a twirl when she was wearing the dress and doing so once more when she was wearing the skirt and the t-shirt, smiling happily while she did so. It was so good to see AJ finally deciding to let down that defensive attitude and just enjoy the moment. And it was her who did this, Kaitlyn realized; this realization made a pleasant warmth emerge from the pits of her stomach. This was also the first time she had actually seen her smiling... holy crap, she had the feeling she had accomplished something absolutely freaking huge.

And of course, Kaitlyn had to try on her new clothes as well. Just like hers, they were all her size and they were so comfortable to wear. Well sure, they did smell a bit stale, but everything could be fixed with a good wash; she knew how to use the washing machine, she could wash them when she was home alone. From all the clothes she received, the hoodie with the sunflower had to be her favorite, it was exactly her taste. And it seemed like AJ liked the t-shirt, skirt and socks the most, because she kept wearing them after she was done trying on all the clothes.

'Wow… I never thought someone would actually be willing to do this for me!' AJ said while sitting down on the bed. She began to slightly bounce up and down on the beat of the music. 'You're not like the other girls at all.'

'You mean like Carmella and her lackeys?' Kaitlyn chuckled. 'Thank God I'm not.'

'Well yeah, but I mean, like all the other girls overall, you know what I mean? I mean to say, all the girls at our school, even the ones who had nothing to do with Carmella. Literally every one of them ignores me. Not that I mind it, though… I'm not alone. I still do have friends, you know, but honestly, you are the first person at school who doesn't treat me like I don't exist.'

'Why do they ignore you?'

AJ shrugged. 'I can think of quite some reasons. Maybe it has something to do with the fact I almost never go to school, because for that it probably means I'm a bad person they shouldn't be around with. You've seen in the cafeteria, didn't you? Nobody did something when that bitch was talking trash to my face and they probably still wouldn't have anything if her friends would've beaten me up. You were literally the only one who stood up for me.'

She fell quiet and stared at the window for a few seconds; it had already become dark outside, time had practically flown by during their little dress up party. One glance at the alarm clock on the nightstand and she knew it was half past nine. 'Oh shoot, it's that late already?! I should probably go now. Thanks a lot for the clothes, Kait!'

'Wait, hold up! Maybe you shouldn't go…'

'Why not?'

'Because I won't feel right about you going back home all alone when it's dark. Trust me, I have watched the news plenty of times to know what happens to some girls who do that. I could let you sleep here, but I don't think we have a spare mattress or anything…'

'Oh that's okay, I think we can both sleep in your bed! Look at the size, I think it could be large enough for the both of us. And I will be out of here before someone will even notice I was here!'

Kaitlyn had to think about this for a moment. It was a bit of a risky move, but it was better than nothing, Kaitlyn figured. Sleeping on the couch would probably be even more risky and there was no way she could send her off in the night. And since her parents never checked on her before going to bed, this would indeed be the best option.

'Okay…' Kaitlyn replied. 'But you would have to wake up really early. My mom always wakes me up around seven o'clock, so when you want to leave, you'll have to wake up before that time. I could set an alarm for you.'

'No problemo! I have always been an early bird.'

'Um… Alright then…'

And so, fifteen minutes after Kaitlyn had borrowed her classmate a spare toothbrush and a nightgown and setting the alarm for six o'clock, the two girls were lying in the bed, not lying too close next to each other, not too far away either. AJ was right, the bed really was just big enough. Who knew the night would end like this? Kaitlyn would've never imagined having the biggest outcast of her school sleeping at her place, it was a bit strange, but then again… it was actually kind of fun. Cozy, even. This hadn't been the first time she had to share a bed with a kid from around her age; some time after she and her parents had moved to Hope's Creek, her aunt and two cousins came to visit for a weekend and she had to share her bed with one of them. AJ had opened up enough to her to be willing to sleep in one bed with her, and all because she had been kind enough to treat her like an actual human being. It seemed like AJ was pretty comfortable, even though she was lying right next to a person who she had only known for a relatively short period of time. Despite the bit of strangeness, Kaitlyn had to admit that she was comfortable as well.

'Hey AJ?' she asked with a soft voice.

'Hmm?'

'Will you wait for me tomorrow after school?'

'Sure thing. But don't be shocked if I don't show up in the morning. I think I've had enough school for a while.' AJ let out a little chuckle.

'Okay then. Good night!'

'Don't let the bedbugs bite.'

Off went the light in the bedroom.


	7. Let The Search Begin

**Chapter 7**

 **Let The Search Begin**

Hope's Creek… not until her worries about AJ went through the roof last night, she thought she would ever return to this place.

Kaitlyn clearly felt a small chill run up her spine as soon as she had passed by the first houses that she still could remember so well, despite the fact that the last time she had ever laid eyes upon them had been seventeen years ago. So many years passed, and surprisingly, the paint job on the houses had neatly survived all the snow, rain, wind and harsh sunshine they had been exposed to through time. All the gardens had been well taken care of, but the two-toned woman would expect that from the people who lived in this neighborhood. And yes, it was the neighborhood that she knew all too well; it was here where she spent a good chunk of her childhood. The 'rich' neighborhood, as AJ had always called it with some degree of contempt, was located near the border of Hope's Creek; you would arrive there one minute after driving past the town's sign. The chill she had felt earlier caused goose bumps to appear all over her arms, being back here after such a long time felt so surreal. It was almost like nothing had changed in this neighborhood while she had been gone. Glancing at the sidewalk was already enough for Kaitlyn to bring back those memories. This was where she would walk whenever she was going to school, the stores, Liv's place…

Tears welled up in her eyes because the latter memory, along with a knot that began to develop in her stomach. Would her parents still live here? Or did they want to get away from the gruesome events this town became known for by moving away as possible? The two-toned woman wouldn't blame them, she would've done the same.

Caught in a moment of nostalgia, Kaitlyn turned her head to the left, knowing exactly what she was going to look at. The tears that she had managed to push away resurfaced once again, she really had to fight hard to not let them spill. Right on her left was the house she grew up in. Just like the other houses in this neighborhood, almost nothing had changed, not even the garden or the driveway. However, there was one change about it, now that she thought about it. Her parents didn't own it anymore; new people had moved in. People who she was never able to meet in person. Her mother never let Kaitlyn come with her when she was forced to go to Hope's Creek to sign paperwork or pick up some of her belongings she had left there, probably because she knew her now ex-husband would be there as well. The two-toned woman figured her mother wanted to spite him by not bringing their daughter along with her. It looked like the divorce had given her father the opportunity to find a woman who would give him a more stable life at home; not long after the divorce papers had been signed, he had found love with another woman he had met via an advertisement in the contact column of the local newspaper, at least that's how she thought they met. She lived in another town, ten miles away from Hope's Creek, and had an even bigger house than they had. Six months or so later, her father decided to move in with her, which became the main reason why the house was put on sale. Two years later they were married; Kaitlyn had to come to the wedding with her aunt, because her mother refused to bring her there. A year later, her father and stepmom moved away to Florida. Kaitlyn had received a postcard with an image of a beach with pearl white sand, a beautiful ocean and one single palm tree from her father around Christmas time. She had hidden it from her mother all that time, because she was afraid she would rip it apart. In the postcard, her father wrote about how he hoped things were going good for her in New York, how much she would love Florida and that he would come over one of these days. It never happened. Even when Kaitlyn finally had a place on her own and invited him to come over by letter, he never showed up; in the letter that she received a week later, he flat-out told her that he was too busy. She had rarely heard anything from her father ever since.

The two-toned woman sighed and looked away. There was no point in dwelling on the past at this moment; she had to focus on the present… on AJ.

The first thing she wanted to do here was exactly what she had been planning back at the diner: visiting AJ's mother's home. Yeah, she knew that the chance her childhood friend would be there was slim, but still. She wouldn't blame AJ for choosing not to stay with the woman who made her childhood so difficult, though. It wasn't very likely she would be there, but she could still have some answers.

Suddenly, a quite harrowing thought shot through her mind with the speed of a bullet: what if she had something to do with all of this? Right on that moment, a flurry of horrific scenarios went through Kaitlyn's head, each one more chilling than the other but the thought of Roberta Lee's brains being so molten into some disgusting, slimy puddle of goo by the heroin that she doesn't even realize her daughter (who made the mistake of arriving at the wrong place at the wrong time) is already dead by the third time she had smashed her brains with a vase… that one took the cake.

'Keep it together! Damn it, Kait!' the two-toned woman hissed; her arms felt freezing cold, each patch of skin was covered in goose bumps. While the summer heat managed to warm them up, she had to seriously think about whether Roberta would be capable of doing such a horrible thing to AJ. If she was already capable of beating the living hell out of her when she was as high as a kite, then perhaps being willing to kill AJ wouldn't be that unlikely… Dear God, she didn't want to think about it. It was one of the many possibilities, but she just didn't want to.

The address was pretty easy to remember, since it was located in that small part of Hope's Creek that most people wouldn't really like to live in. It was known that a handful of the residents who lived there had a rap sheet that most of the time was only limited to drug dealing, but for maybe four or five, it was extended to armed robbery, fraud, scamming or burglary. (For as far as Kaitlyn knew, AJ had never told her about killers or rapists living in her neighborhood, but then again, some people can be damn good at hiding their pasts). Because of said rap sheets, those people had ended up in a heap of trouble, one of them being not able to find the proper job to earn enough money to pay the rents of the homes they lived in, that's was if they were able to find a job in the first place. That's why they were forced to move to the shadier parts of the towns and cities, including the one where AJ grew up at. But this didn't mean everybody who lived there had a criminal background; some people were just unfortunate enough to struggle with their finances. Kaitlyn couldn't remember any other classmate being from that neighborhood, so this pretty much made AJ the only kid who lived there, for as far as she knew. The two-toned woman took a deep breath and slowly breathed out. 'Alright then… Cross Street 209, here I come.'

During the whole ride, Kaitlyn had this bizarre feeling pooling in her stomach, which partially slowly traveled up to her mind. It was almost dreamlike, nearly enough to pull her in some sort of peaceful, but yet somehow slightly unnerving trance. She knew exactly what it was. She had the feeling that she had never left.

It amazed her how little Hope's Creek had changed over the past seventeen years. Staring at the shops, streets, hell, even the benches, she noticed that nearly everything had remained the same. She could remember them all, it really felt like the last time she had visited her hometown was only yesterday. She did notice that some stores, like the bakery and flower store, had gone out of business at one point; they had made place for a sports equipment and electronics store. The two-toned woman thought it was a real shame about the bakery, she remembered the place selling some seriously delicious doughnuts for one dollar per piece. She had always preferred the doughnuts with chocolate frosting, AJ the ones with vanilla and sprinkles. Kaitlyn then quickly blinked her eyes, shifting her mind back to the present. There wasn't much traffic; she should arrive in the neighborhood in five minutes or so.

While she continued to drive, Kaitlyn often glanced at the sidewalks left and right with the fiery hope of catching a glimpse of her childhood friend. She expected each moment, each second when she thought it would be safe enough to shift her attention to the traffic in front of her to the sidewalks, to see AJ walking there, possibly unharmed but still alive nonetheless. It was that hope she was clinging onto with an iron grip for the entire ride. But as she looked around as much as she could, the two-toned woman couldn't spot a petite woman with long dark brown hair and tanned skin. It made her heart sting… and it nearly brought tears to her eyes. Thankfully she managed to push them back by rapidly blinking her eyes. Come on now, she had to keep it together, not only for AJ's sake, but for hers as well. She couldn't fall apart, not for one moment, it wasn't going to get her anywhere.

It didn't last long before her surroundings began to change. The stores disappeared in the rear view, making place for regular houses, of which the quality lessened as she continued to drive down the road. Kaitlyn knew she was going the right way. The houses were clearly smaller than the ones in the neighborhood she grew up in and she noticed that some of the front lawns that belonged to said houses were very unkempt; there were more overgrown weeds than grass and flowers. There were no driveways, thus forcing the residents to park their old, secondhand-looking cars on the street. Turning around the right corner at the end of the street, Kaitlyn looked up to glance at the street sign. Cross Street. Alright, this had to be the place. Now she just had to look for the number 209… Looking to the right, the two-toned woman noticed that it had to be on this side of the street. That's when she spotted an empty spot between two cars that were parked near the sidewalk, it had enough space for her own car. She decided to park it there.

After she successfully managed to park her car after two attempts, Kaitlyn got out and looked around. She assumed that one of the cars here had to belong to Roberta. AJ had never told her about her mother owning a vehicle, but hey, the chance was there, right? The two-toned woman got on the sidewalk and began to slowly walk, all while looking at the numbers of the houses one by one. 203, 205, 207… she was getting closer. In the corner of her eye, Kaitlyn saw an empty cardboard box placed on the front lawn of the last house she was going to pass. 'Kittens for sale! Two dollars each!' was written on the cardboard with a thick, black marker. Of course the two-toned woman couldn't help but take a quick peek inside the box; it was empty, except for a small can of half-eaten cat food that was left on the bottom. After taking a few more steps, she was now standing on front of the house she had been searching for. A tense feeling suddenly bloomed in the back of her head. She had no idea about what she was going to see as soon as Roberta Lee would open the door. Would she have come to her senses during the years and decide to put aside the heroin, or did she continue nonetheless and she became beyond help? She had no idea, but there was only one way to find out about that. Kaitlyn took a deep breath and slowly breathed out in order to ease her nerves. Then she walked towards the porch, went up the short flight of stairs and rang the doorbell. A shrill noise echoed through the entire house, there was no way Roberta could not hear it, unless she decided to ignore it and launch another needle in one of her punctured veins. Now it was just a matter of waiting. While the seconds ticked by, the two-toned woman contemplated about what she could possibly do if nobody would answer the door. She could knock on the windows and try to peek inside…

Footsteps inside the hallway and a click snapped her out of her thoughts. The door opened with a loud creak. Kaitlyn mentally prepared herself for what she was about to see… and much to her surprise, it was nothing like anything she had expected. No, it wasn't a recovering former drug addict, or a junkie who looked more like some pale zombie with reddened holes on her arms either; it was a woman who obviously didn't look like she could be AJ's mother. The woman was in her late forties, maybe fifties, had short red hair of which the locks were curled up in plastic, blue curlers. She was wearing a pink bathrobe and Kaitlyn had to admit, the make-up on her face looked actually quite good.

'Good morning, can I help you?' the woman asked with a slightly confused look on her face. She wasn't AJ's mom, at all.

'Uh… Hello. I was wondering… does Roberta Lee still live here?' the two-toned woman asked. 'Did she move? Does she still live around here?'

'Roberta Lee, you say?' The new occupant of AJ's childhood home fell silent for a few seconds, as if she tried to remember something. 'Oh, you must mean the lady who used to live here! I'm sorry that I have to tell you this, but she has passed away. Seventeen years ago, just a few days before Christmas. It was pretty sad to hear what had happened… They found that poor woman lying in the bathtub with a syringe sticking into her arm, she had apparently died of an overdose. That's what I had been told. She also had a daughter, but I guess she was staying somewhere else.'

Damn it… that had to be during the time she had been staying with her mother during the divorce progress.

'Are you family of hers?' the woman suddenly asked.

Kaitlyn shook her head. 'No, I'm not. I just… I am a childhood friend of her daughter, you know. And I just happened to be around, so I wanted to pay a little visit, it had been such a long time. But does that mean she isn't here as well? AJ? AJ Lee?'

'I'm sorry, but no. It's just me and my husband, I'm afraid.'

'I see… Well, thanks a lot either way, miss. Have a good day.'

'You too! Goodbye.'

Less than two seconds later after she turned around and walked away, the two-toned woman heard the door shut behind her. It was only back in the car where her frustration decided to come out. Kaitlyn slammed her fist against the steering wheel with a bit of force.

'Fuck!' she growled. This was fantastic, just fucking fantastic. Less than thirty minutes in her hometown and the first possible lead she could think of already turned out to be a dead end. Literally, if you thought about it. She wasn't surprised about the way AJ's mother died, to be honest, but still… knowing that she had been dead for a long time didn't ease the frustration. A nasty headache was coming up. She let out a long sigh and rubbed both her temples, trying to calm down. Okay, she was back at where she begun… but this didn't mean her search for AJ was over, not by a long shot. She could feel the frustration lessen by a bit, but there was still some left. Just then, Kaitlyn noticed how tired she actually was; this car ride had demanded a huge chunk of energy this morning, and the effects of the coffee she had for breakfast was beginning to wear off. What she needed to find alongside her childhood friend was a proper place to stay for the time she was going to be here. Going to her former home wasn't going to be an option, that was for sure.

It looked like she was going to have to book yet another room at Hope's Lake only motel; once she had a temporary place to stay, she could come up with the next plan.


	8. The First Lead

**Chapter 8**

 **The First Lead**

The Pinewood Motel had to be one of the biggest buildings you could find in Hope's Creek, the others being the town hall and the library. Kaitlyn remembered the outside of the building looking not too fancy; it was simply shaped like a brick and had three floors providing guests with proper, clean rooms. She wasn't entirely sure of the latter, since she hadn't stayed at the motel for one day. The two-toned woman had passed by the motel while she had been driving through the town earlier, it was located not too far away from the town's square. It honestly surprised Kaitlyn that the Pinewood Motel was still here, even after all these years. Because after all, from what she could remember, she had never seen a whole bunch of cars parked on the place's parking lot when she was a young kid. What was so special about Hope's Creek that made people want to visit it, she wondered at that time. (But by the time she was thirteen years old, the town did become known for something… and no town in the world would've liked to be famous for the most gruesome reason possible) One logical reason could be that other motels, inns or hotels in the big cities near Hope's Creek could be a bit too expensive for the guests' taste, which was why they decide to book a room at Pinewood Motel. They would visit the bigger cities where you could find more sensation than in a town like Hope's Creek during the day, then stay here by night. If the price was indeed more doable, it would make sense, right? Well, there was only one way to find out about it; and that was by going there.

It didn't take that long for Kaitlyn to get to the Pinewood Motel. While she drove to the location, she could feel the frustration still freshly embedded inside her. In order to calm herself down a bit, so repeatedly slowly breathed in and out through her mouth, which did help, but not much. Yes, she knew what kind of mother Roberta had been to her daughter, AJ most likely wouldn't have approved of her talking to her if she would know about it, but she was so far the only person she could think of who could possibly have a clue about what happened to AJ. And now she was dead. For seventeen years, for fuck's sake. Of course she wasn't going to get any answers from her now. The tiredness of only having a few hours of sleep, a three-hour car drive and the relentless summer heat didn't make the frustration any easier; as soon as she would find a place where she could lie down for a little while to get some rest, she could think clearly again. Even though she had no idea about how the motel would look like from the inside, the two-toned woman hoped that at least they still had some spare rooms left. Now that she thought about… the state of her motel room would be the last thing she had to worry about.

After a short time of driving once more through Hope's Creek (Kaitlyn swore that if she would have to drive one more freaking mile in this driving oven she would lose it, unless she really had to), she could already see the local motel in the distance, just two blocks away from the town square. She could already feel the sensation of lying on top of a mattress on her back… thank God. She turned on the blinker, turned around the right corner and then turned left to get to the parking lot. Countless grey and white pebbles were crushed underneath the heavy tires, the sound filled up the entire vehicle and was almost loud enough to drown out the song that was playing on the radio. The parking lot was noticeably smaller than the one at the motel she had been staying at last night and there weren't that many cars, thus making it really easy for the two-toned woman to park her car. As soon as she did so and stood still, the crunching of the pebbles abruptly stopped. The same went for the radio when Kaitlyn pulled the key out of the ignition. Stepping outside the unbelievably warm vehicle was such a relief; the two-toned woman took a moment to wipe off a thin sheet of sweat from her forehead. A glass of water would along well with some rest. Then she took out her suitcase out of the trunk and closed the car.

While she walked towards the entrance of the motel, a harrowing thought went through Kaitlyn's head with the speed of a bullet, so fast, she couldn't stop it. It was something nobody really want to think about, yet couldn't help but wonder about it. How long did it take for people to finally notice that something might have happened with Roberta? Who would care enough about her? And how did the scene look like when they entered the house? Kaitlyn couldn't imagine the woman having a whole lot of friends or acquaintances, judging by the reputation she had in Hope's Creek, but there could've been one logical explanation of how she was eventually discovered. It would take a short period of time for a dead body to produce this uncanny, strong, repulsive stench, one some could easily recognize. It was the unmistaken smell of death. It must've grown strong enough to somehow find its way outside through an open window or something; Roberta must have been lying in that bathtub for weeks for this to happen. The wait of the terrifying, yet heartbreaking sight was over as soon as the neighbors or police (most likely the latter) entered the foul-smelling house and eventually the bathroom, where the stench had to be so heavy it would be nearly impossible to breathe. As soon as that door was forced open and the officers were forced to inhale another strong whiff of decay, they laid eyes upon the dead, decomposing body of Roberta Lee. Her skin colored ash grey, the back of her head resting on the edge of the bathtub, her mouth permanently frozen in a pitch-black 'o' shape, half-lidded eyes rolled in the back of her head, countless flies buzzing around her in a sinister waltz and the syringe sticking in the vein of her arm being the rotten cherry on top of the drug-laced cake. Roberta had been found in the way nobody ever wants his or her corpse to be found. Even though the temperature was immensely warm, the two-toned woman felt her skin turning ice cold.

A breeze coming from a rattling, metal fan placed near the door was the first thing to welcome her when she entered the building. By first glance, she noticed that the Pinewood Motel wasn't actually that bad to stay at. The carpet had a dark green and lime green floral pattern and the walls were neatly covered with a cream-colored wallpaper, a leather couch that must have been in a thrift shop some time ago was put on her left, along with a coffee table with some magazines placed on top of it and a painting of the woods and mountains near Hope's Creek was hanging on the wall. Sure, the motel looked old, but it looked very clean, which was what mattered most to Kaitlyn. The first floor was shaped like an L; the front desk was right in front of her. An old lady, who surprisingly had retained some of the beauty she had when she was young, was sitting behind it, calmly humming a cheerful tune as she looked like she was writing something down. Was she solving a puzzle in a magazine, perhaps? Walking towards the front desk and briefly peeking over it, Kaitlyn found out that this was indeed the case; most of the empty squares of the Sudoku puzzle had already been filled in.

'Excuse me?' the two-toned woman asked, catching the old lady's attention. 'I'd like to book a room, please. Are there still any rooms left?'

The desk lady didn't respond. Instead, she stared at Kaitlyn's face, looking like she was trying to remember something. Then, after five seconds or so, her entire face lightened up as she smiled from ear to ear.

'Well, I'll be…' she said with a soft voice. 'Kaitlyn Bonin! My, how much you have grown! And your hair! Those blonde streaks look great on you! Don't you remember me, dear? You used to be one of my students!'

Now that she was the one looking at her face plus the fact that the old lady mentioned this, Kaitlyn now recognized her as well. 'Mrs. Ferguson?'

Mrs. Anne Ferguson, her teacher during the two-toned woman's time at middle school, nodded. 'It's so nice to see you again, girl. It has been such a long time, how is everything going? My goodness, it's been so long indeed!'

'I'm doing great, thank you very much.' It pained the two-toned woman so much to lie to this old, kind woman. 'How long have you been doing this work? Aren't you a teacher anymore?'

'I wish I could've continued a little longer…' The broad smile on Mrs. Ferguson's face grew slightly smaller. She shook her head. 'But kids these days… they become much harder to bring order to. So unbelievably unruly. I tried my best, but… well, I let it get the best of me. They tired me out so much, way too much. My dear husband George, God bless his soul, saw what the stress did to my health. I had no other choice than to give up teaching, unfortunately. Those years gave me the time to unwind, but when my husband passed away, I got sick of sitting at home in front of the TV by myself all the time. So I found this job and I have to say, working here is so nice. I can't complain about anything, really. It's wonderful! Hopefully I can keep continuing doing this for as long as possible.' Just then, while her smile grew back to its original size, the former teacher rapidly blinked her eyes. 'Oh, right! Your room! Yes, I do believe we still have some rooms left. Do you have any preference on a certain floor you want your room to be?'

'No, Mrs. Ferguson.'

'Please dear, you don't have to call me that, you're not at school anymore. Just call me Anne, if you want to.'

A wooden plank adorned with rows of small, blunt hooks, some of them occupied with room keys, was attached to the wall behind Mrs. Ferguson. With some effort, the old lady managed to get up from her seat. She looked at the keys for a while before picking one and handing it over to Kaitlyn.

'Here you go. Room 32, it's on this floor. You know, you aren't the first former student to rent a room here.'

'Really? How so?'

'Well… a couple of days ago, AJ Lee was standing on the same spot as you are now, dearie. She said something about wanting to go sightseeing around the area. AJ Lee, that poor thing… What happened to her wouldn't make you wish it upon your worst enemy, honestly. I'm wondering what she's doing now in her room, because I haven't seen-'

'What room is she in?' the two-toned woman asked, almost allowing her own voice to sound louder than she intended to. The reason why Kaitlyn couldn't immediately respond was because of her heart skipping a beat, from the moment she heard the name of her childhood friend.

Dear God.

She could be here. Alive.

'Umm… I believe she is in room 20, it's also on this floor. Why? Did you two decide to meet up?'

'Uh, yeah. Yeah, we did. Thank you, Mrs. Ferguson! It was nice talking to you!'

Without waiting for her former teacher's response, Kaitlyn quickly walked away, turned around the corner and walked down the hallway, all while her heartbeat increased more and more by the second.

The pace she was walking with wasn't fast enough to make her look like she was running, but more like she was trying to look like she still had some calmness in her, yet she clearly wanted to get to that room as fast as she could. During the whirlwind of thoughts that went through the two-toned woman's head, she thanked Mrs. Ferguson for giving her the most solid clue she could think of, that old lady must've been an angel in disguise. She could almost swear she heard her former teacher loudly ask her something back at the front desk, but she could barely hear it over the sound of her rapidly beating heart, which had now traveled all the way up to her head. For the first time during these days that were filled to the brim with agonizing anxiety, uncertainty and self-control, Kaitlyn had hope. The chance of AJ finding here was big, yes, she would ask her about why the hell she never bothered to respond to her phone calls while grabbing her by the shoulders and furiously shaking her like a rag doll, but she would still be alive nonetheless. That was what mattered most to her. She would hug the living crap out of her as soon as she would be done shaking her. The wonderful hope overshadowed everything else; she was clinging onto it for dear life at this moment.

As Kaitlyn continued to walk down the hallway, a deep, monotone, humming noise grew louder. A vacuum cleaner, she realized. Glancing at the numbers on the doors she passed by, she knew she was getting closer. A large, blue bucket was standing in the middle of the hallway, filled with hygiene products. It looked like room 20 needed to be cleaned… but this didn't stop Kaitlyn from clinging onto the hope. Just as she was two meters away from approaching the room, the vacuum cleaner was abruptly shut off. A few seconds later, a short, chubby woman in her forties with her curly, black hair tied in a messy bun, stepped out of the room, carrying the vacuum cleaner with one hand while scratching her head with the other. She didn't notice Kaitlyn. The cleaning lady put the device close to the wall while she grabbed the bucket, taking out a plastic bottle of what had to be a cleaning solution; there was barely enough of the green liquid to cover the bottle's bottom. The cleaning lady seemed to realize that this wasn't going to be the right amount needed to clean a whole motel room (or the bathroom, at least), because she let out an annoyed sigh and shook her head.

'I should probably get another one…' she grumbled. Then she walked away, in Kaitlyn direction, not even acknowledging her when she passed her. The door of room 20 was open; no need to knock. This was it, the moment of truth. She let go of her suitcase, causing it to drop to the floor. A few more quick steps and the two-toned woman stood in the doorway.

'AJ?'

There was nobody to greet her back in this motel room. The sheets of the bed had already been removed and the window had been opened to allow a fresh summer breeze to spread some fresh air; a good chunk of the hope that had been build up inside Kaitlyn was taken away with that same breeze. There was this horrible, heavy sensation that filled up the pits of her stomach in the blink of an eye and it immediately traveled down to her legs, almost making her feet feel like they were made of lead. The two-toned woman knew why this was happening; it was because she had her hopes up way too much. It nearly brought tears to her eyes. She managed to hold them back by rapidly blinking her eyes. It took a few seconds for her to pull herself together. After letting out a soft sigh, Kaitlyn stepped inside the motel room, allowing herself to get a better view of the surroundings. There was no AJ, but she couldn't see anything like blood stains, empty bullet cases, chattered items or anything like that. No indication of the worst-case scenario, thankfully. She saw an opened suitcase lying next to the bed, filled with clothes, most of them consisting of t-shirts from bands and pairs of jeans; it was clear that AJ much rather preferred living out of her suitcase than simply storing them inside a closet. So she didn't leave Hope's Creek, that was good. But then where the hell are you, AJ? Kaitlyn was entirely sure that this question would haunt for as long as her search was going to last. She walked towards the bed, got down on her knees and peeked underneath it; aside from some dust here and there, there was nothing there to be found. Letting out another sigh, the two-toned woman got back up on her feet. A small, round table was spotted in the far left corner. Apparently the cleaning lady thought vacuuming the room first was more important than throwing away the trash, because there were carton boxes of cold Chinese food left on the table. A wardrobe that reached the two-toned woman's waist was placed against the wall, large enough for an old TV to be put on top of it.

Just then, something near the TV caught Kaitlyn's eye; and it nearly made her gasp in surprise.

It was a black handheld camcorder. Could it be that… there could be some clue in it? Kaitlyn didn't hesitate for a moment. She walked towards the wardrobe and picked up the camcorder, taking a moment to inspect it up close. It looked like the newest version, so this could've meant AJ had bought it recently. Was it for her search, perhaps? Pressing a small button, the two-toned woman managed to open the lid. And it seemed like luck finally chose to be on her side for this day; a tape had been put inside it.

And there was only one way to find out about what was on that tape.

Holding the camcorder with both hands and holding it close to her like it was some sacred relic, Kaitlyn quickly left the hotel room.


	9. He Is Still Out There

**Chapter 9**

 **He Is Still Out There**

The second thing Kaitlyn did as soon as she got inside her motel room was to turn around, close the door and lock it with the key Mrs. Ferguson had given her earlier; the first thing she had done before that was tossing her luggage near the bed. Unpacking would have to wait. The two-toned woman took a moment to make sure the door was properly locked by twisting the door knob and pull a couple of times. Despite the Pinewood Motel being one of the oldest buildings in Hope's Creek, the locks still properly functioned, thankfully. Kaitlyn decided to leave the key inside the keyhole, just in case somebody planned to get in with a spare key. Somebody who somehow may know about her real reason of visiting her hometown… This was of course unlikely because she had done her best to hide this, but now that she was holding AJ's camcorder in her hands, she felt the paranoia kicking in.

You could never be too careful.

The door was now locked, she was alone, and yet the two-toned woman couldn't ease that uncomfortable feeling that was relentlessly spreading from the pits of her stomach to her chest, only to creep up towards her head after it settled there for a few seconds. Yes, that was clearly the side-effect paranoia, no doubt about it. Kaitlyn tried to calm down by slowly breathing out through her nose, but she couldn't shrug off that feeling, no matter how hard she tried. Come on Kait, there is nobody here, what the hell is wrong with you? She had hoped this thought would help her, but no. She looked around the room, her eyes taking their time to make sure that she was indeed alone, until they were locked upon something that could very well be the source of the paranoia. The large window that gave her the oh so lovely, panoramic view of the parking lot. Just then, the two-toned woman noticed that the window had been blessed with a pair of dark brown curtains. Kaitlyn put the camcorder on the bed and after taking a few steps, she had already reached the other side of the motel room. After taking a few seconds to make absolutely sure there was nobody at the parking lot, Kaitlyn grabbed the curtains and quickly pulled them towards each other, closing the window and instantly blocking out most of the sunlight as she did so. There, that should do the trick. The room had become so dimly-lit that she couldn't almost see anything, but she was okay with that. It took away most of the paranoia, after all.

Now that she was a hundred percent sure that there was no possible way that somebody could spy on her, Kaitlyn knew it was finally enough to look at whatever was on that tape… but the thought of not knowing about what she about to see made her mouth dry up. Earlier before, she had held the camcorder like it was the most precious, sought-after treasure in the world, but now she was looking at it like it was some poisonous viper, which was staring right back at her and ready to launch its needle-like teeth into her if she would dare to get any closer. Just then, Kaitlyn noticed how fast her heart was actually beating. This was it; this device right here could have the answer, or at least a clue about the radio silence her childhood friend had been giving her for the past few days. One little tape could possibly be the biggest revelation in this search. The possible truth was lying right in front of her on that bed, begging to be looked at. Kaitlyn took a deep breath, managing to control her nervousness and pull herself together. Of course she wanted to know what was on that goddamn tape! It was exactly why she came here! AJ could still be out there, needing her help, while she was standing here, staring at the camcorder like some damn idiot!

And with those hard words stuck in her head, the two-toned woman walked towards the bed, grabbed the device and sat down on the edge. In the handful of sunlight that peeked through the thin gap between the curtains, she briefly inspected it. To her relief, there were no bloodstains on the plastic, just one tiny scratch and a bit of dust; nothing that really indicated about a violent occurrence in the motel room. Opening the lid once more and peeking at the tape inside it, the two-toned woman suddenly realized that she should've looked if there had been other tapes in motel room as well. Fuck, why did she only realize that now? Kaitlyn let out a soft, frustrated groan because of this. Damn it, Kaity! Hopefully she could still sneak in later, but that was unlikely; the cleaning lady must be back and halfway cleaning the bathroom at this point. Guess she had only this to use for now. This was the newest version the brand of the camcorder had produced, but the two-toned woman was convinced it wouldn't be too hard to figure out how this thing worked. Opening a lid on the side of the device revealed a small screen where she could barely see her own reflection in. Let's see… which button she had to press to turn it on. After pressing two buttons (nothing happened when she did this), Kaitlyn found the right one. The screen was switched on. Okay, that was easy enough. Now how did she have to play the tape? It didn't have to last that awfully long for the two-toned woman to figure that out; as soon as she saw the incredibly small triangle on one of the few small buttons, she figured that uncovering the clue was just one press on this button away. Her index finger had a strange, tingling sensation when she carefully pushed it. In the blink of an eye, the screen turned blue. This caused Kaitlyn to immediately hold her breath. This was it. She had no idea about what she was going to see, but as long as it would lead her to AJ… then she would be willing to watch.

A few seconds ticked by before the color disappeared; the tape had begun playing.

If it hadn't been for the faint, warm light that was aimed at the dark ground, Kaitlyn wouldn't have ever figured out that whoever was filming (hopefully her childhood friend) was standing on a field of grass. The source of light had to be a lamppost. The camcorder's view, slightly shaking, moved downwards for a few inches, revealing a pair of black sneakers. A dog could be heard barking somewhere in the distance.

'Okay, I guess it must be recording… about freaking time.' an all too familiar voice mumbled. Hearing it made the two-toned woman's heart cringe so hard that it nearly made tears well up in her eyes. Oh God, it was her… The view suddenly changed into a smear of darkness mixed with some light before it was locked on the face of a young woman, which was almost recognizable thanks to the light of the lamppost she was standing under. It was the face Kaitlyn could easily recognize even if she had to find it in an entire crowd of people. It was indeed AJ, and thank God in heaven, she looked unharmed… It had only been a few days ago since she had seen her, but now it felt like this had been the first sign of life she had given Kaitlyn in a hundred years. The two-toned woman parted her lips and let out a trembling sigh.

AJ stared straight into the camcorder, with a look of determination in her eyes. 'My name is AJ Lee.' she said, the tone in her voice just as determined. 'I have arrived in Hope's Creek this afternoon, but I have planning on recording at night. I want to record every moment of this in case… Well, if that bastard catches me, I hope I can still catch a glimpse of his goddamn face. It's… let's see.' She briefly broke her gaze to glance down before looking back. 'It's one AM in the evening and as you can see, there's no way in hell I'm going to sleep yet. Because there's something I want to call bullshit on and no, it can't wait 'til the morning. You see this?'

Once again, the view turned into a quick blur before it locked its focus onto a building that would fit perfectly in the scene of almost any horror movie. The building was a house, almost just as big as AJ's previous home… but now that Kaitlyn thought about it, the outside of the house where her childhood friend was forced to grow up in looked like an expensive villa in comparison to this rotten, deteriorated hut that was shown to her now. It was clear that nobody had been living in this house for nearly two decades, unless the place had already been inhabited by a group of hobos, ghosts or even a serial killer. There was barely a chip of white paint that had been smudged green and black by being exposed to the elements for years left on the wood. Not one light was shining through one of the windows, most of them being either smashed in or cracked, it was completely dark inside. Weeds dominated the front yard, some of them so tall that they would reach someone's waist; for a split moment, Kaitlyn expected the ugly, dried-up plants to violently shake and some monster with razor sharp teeth to leap at the camera, but that didn't happen. A piece of wood was sticking out of the ground, possibly the remains of a sign. So this probably meant the house had once been put up for sale a long time ago while it was still in good condition… then why did nobody want to buy it? Rustling of grass and minor movement of the view indicated that AJ was walking towards the abandoned house. Soon the rustling turned into crunching; the path leading to the front door was entirely made of pebbles.

'Damn… the only thing that's missing is the zombies.' Kaitlyn heard her childhood friend mumble. 'This right here is where dear old Alfred Peters used to live. Oh yeah, Mr. Peters. The only thing anyone knew about him was that he lived here all by himself. No wife, no kids, not even a dog. Pretty much kept to himself most of the time, at least, that's what the neighbors said on the news. Kept his curtains closed for days on end too. He didn't even greet them when he was outside mowing the lawn, that is, if he decided to crawl out of his cave after three months or so. Strange guy, right? Well, I can feel him, but only on that part. Either way, it was clear that Mr. Peters didn't like people. Hell, we used to live in the same neighborhood and I think the only times I ever saw him was at the supermarket. Just another old geezer who preferred to be alone, anyone thought. But you see… Mr. Peters had a secret. And apparently, it became unbearable to him.'

Loud creaking came after the crunching as the childhood friend walked up the porch's short flight of stairs; it was so loud that Kaitlyn expected the stairs to collapse at any second, which thankfully didn't happen. AJ stood still in front of the door and briefly paused to grab the doorknob and twist it. Unfortunately, it didn't budge.

'Crap, it's locked... Well, that was to be expected. I came prepared! Please, dear neighbors… don't call the cops on me, okay?'

Whatever AJ was doing, it forced her to carefully put down the camcorder on the ground. One second after the device touched the grimy wood, a black backpack was dropped in front of it, taking up the entire view. The backpack shook slightly as it was opened. Then the camcorder was picked up and the sight was focused back on AJ, whose face was barely visible with the light of the lamppost behind her in the distance. A long, thin object with a crooked and split tip was hold up next to her face; it was a crowbar.

'Hope this baby will be worth the ten dollars I paid for!' the petite woman said. Then, in a brief moment of misplaced comedy, she proceeded to place a little kiss on the metal tool. Kaitlyn couldn't help but chuckle because of this. So typically AJ.

'Alright, let's get this over with…' her childhood friend mumbled before she once again put down the camcorder on the ground. One more creak was heard when she took one last big step to the front door. All of a sudden, a bang made the old, dry, withered wood crunch, the impact had been apparently so big that it actually made wood chips fly past the camcorder's view. AJ was grunting, like she was struggling with something. More crunching and creaking came along with this. Then it promptly fell silent for a few seconds before these noises resumed; whatever AJ was doing, it apparently demanded this much force that she was forced to take a short break. A snap was heard, which was soon followed by three loud bangs before one last loud bang made two large woodchips fly past the camcorder's lens. The view shook as the device was once again picked up and turned into a brief blur of darkness mixed with faint light while the fabric of the backpack rustled. Click. The camcorder's view stopped shaking and was now focused on the bright, white circle of light (obviously the light from a flashlight) that was shining into the abandoned house's empty, dusty hallway. AJ had opened the door by force, Kaitlyn realized. So that's what that crowbar was for…

When her childhood friend stepped inside the house, the flashlight's light slightly bounced up and down. AJ's minor weight alone was already enough to make the floor creak dangerously loud. 'One week after…' she calmly explained before suddenly falling silent for a good five seconds. 'One week after what happened to me, neighbors began complaining to the police about a foul stench that had been lingering around Mr. Peters' house. When the cops got in, they found him dangling from a rope by his neck in the kitchen. As you could guess, he killed himself. And he must've been hanging there for quite a while for his body to stink up the entire house like that. But it wasn't only his body that they found… Every room, yes, every goddamn room in this house, was covered from wall to wall, with dozens of photographs. And no, it weren't your everyday pictures of pretty landscapes outside Hope's Creek or some shit like that… it was child pornography.'

Those last two words alone were already enough to make a chill run up the two-toned woman's spine. It was the first thing the authorities revealed to the media after Mr. Peters' body had been found. She had seen the news report on TV one night, alone in the living room while her parents argued like crazy in the kitchen about God knows what, she had watched the footage of the police officers exiting the house carrying boxes that most likely contained those stomach-churning photographs, all while the news reporter informed the millions of disgusted and horrified watchers about the discovery.

This was it, young Kaitlyn had thought for a moment. It was all over. That sick son of a bitch took the easy way out while AJ Lee, the only survivor of the massacre that took place in Hope's Creek, was left to pick up the pieces of her ruined childhood. But that's when something struck her… they never said anything about that one thing that mattered so much.

'After the cops had gathered all the evidence, nobody thought of buying this place.' AJ calmly explained while slowly walking through the hallway, revealing a door on her left at one point when she shone her flashlight to the wall next to her. 'But hey, I don't blame anyone… would you like to live in a house where the Hope's Creek Killer committed suicide? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: apparently the murders stopped immediately after his death, so everybody, even the cops, assumed that it had been him all along. And just like that, Alfred Peters did not only turn out to be a disgusting pedophile in the eyes of the entire nation, but also as the Hope's Creek Killer. His death pretty much closed the case. But there was one thing they never mentioned. That one good thing I told them about when they took my statement, I still can't believe those dumbasses overlooked it… They never said anything about the rabbit suit.'

That was exactly it.

'Deep inside, for all these years… all of this felt wrong to me, because of that. That's why I'm here. I want to find that suit. And if I find it here… well, then I guess it had been him after all and I have been a total fucking dumbass this whole time.' The insult to herself was harsh and was anything but funny, but AJ chuckled about it. She sighed and stood still, giving a good view on how long, dark, dusty and creepy the hallway was before aiming to the stairs at the end. Dear God, she had been there all by herself… not only did this creep Kaitlyn out, but it also made her sad. She should've offered right away to come along when she told her about her plans to visit their hometown, damn it, why didn't she do that? Guilt began to slowly creep in.

'Alright…' her childhood friend mumbled. 'If I were some lonely, psychotic sicko who liked to dress up as a rabbit, go around town to kidnap and murder young girls and enjoy a microwaved TV-dinner while staring at fucked up photos on the living room walls at the end of the day… where would I keep my suit?' And while she fell silent, Kaitlyn began thinking along with her. But just as she could come up with an answer, it looked like AJ had the exact same answer at that moment. 'How about the bedroom…?'

AJ must've gotten a burst of confidence, because when she muttered out that last word, she practically sprinted towards the staircase, causing the camcorder's view to shake violently. As soon as she stepped on the old wood, creaking was immediately emitted; the sound was so loud and deep that Kaitlyn feared for a moment that her friend could've crashed through the steps while running up the stairs at any moment. That house had been abandoned for nearly two decades, so of course an accident was everything but unlikely to happen. More creaking followed, along with thumping while AJ continued to run up the flight of stairs, which was nothing more but a blur of bright light that was drowned out by darkness at some points. Then, after a few seconds, her childhood friend had reached the top and stood still; the lens was now aimed at the corridor of the house's second floor, which looked just as creepy, dark and empty as the one downstairs. Kaitlyn heard her childhood friend taking a brief moment to catch her breath. The flashlight's light slowly glided over the walls like an illuminating ghost, looking for something. It then froze on a door on the right, three meters away from AJ. She began walking again. Now that she wasn't speaking, Kaitlyn noticed she was paying more attention to the surroundings. Only now she saw that the wallpaper had been torn on some spots, revealing the bricks that formed the wall itself; touching themselves would possibly be only a good idea if you wanted said wall to collapse. The wallpaper must've had a very nice, maybe even soothing shade of green seventeen years ago, but thanks to the humidity, neglect and cold it had been exposed to, it had turned into a hue that you would see on fungus. Hell, Kaitlyn could briefly see that some spores had already begun to form. Just then, close to the circle of light that had been pointed to the floor at the moment, something small, fat and hairy with a long tail emerged from the darkness and quickly ran past AJ, roughly two centimeters away from her foot, causing her to freeze and let out a little shriek; even the two-toned woman herself was startled. That thing had to be without a doubt a rat… the realization made her skin crawl.

'Goddamn it… stupid rat…' AJ sighed.

After taking a few more steps, she had finally reached the door, of which the smudged paint (which probably must've been white at the time the house was build) had chipped off in big pieces. Not hesitating for one moment, AJ twisted the doorknob and opened the door. It almost sounded like the rusty door hinges were screeching in pain when she did this. Once the door was opened, the small screen of the camcorder showed a room that would be a welcoming place for monsters that would only exist in nightmares to hide. The only source of light was coming from the lamppost outside, but even that faint light that was shining through the only window in the room wasn't enough to see what was inside. Only when AJ shone her flashlight inside the room, you could finally see a thing… or actually, nothing, because the room was almost completely empty. Thousands of tiny bits of dust lit up in the beam of light, carried away by the gentle airflow that had found its way into the room. A bed without a mattress, covered in cobwebs and dust, was spotted on her right. Aiming the light to the far back, it revealed a long, waist-high wardrobe, covered in so much dust that it had formed a thick sheet on top of it. This was most likely the room AJ wanted to look for; Mr. Peters' bedroom.

'Okay… let's see what we can find. Please tell me that damn suit is in here.' Kaitlyn heard her friend mumble. She stepped inside and aimed her flashlight back at the bed, walking towards it. The long strips of wood that formed the bottom of the bed created a row shadows as she got closer. Staring at it for a few seconds, she must've realized that no clues could be found there. Then she walked towards the wardrobe. Kaitlyn could only see the street and the lonely lamppost through the window for less than a second before AJ pointed the camcorder to the old, long piece of furniture. The view slightly shook and turned again into a blur when the childhood friend realized that she was going to need an empty hand if she wanted to open the three drawers, and using the flashlight right now seemed more important than holding the camcorder, thus putting the device on top of the wardrobe. One by one, Kaitlyn heard the drawers being opened and closed, all while her childhood friend muttered the word 'fuck' in frustration under her breath. Each time a drawer was closed, the camcorder's view trembled briefly due to the impact. But then, after Kaitlyn heard another loud creak and a soft gasp, the camcorder was promptly grabbed and pointed underneath the wardrobe. What the two-toned woman saw on the small screen made her blink her eyes in surprise. The copious amount of dust on the floor wasn't the only thing the light of the flashlight revealed; it was a long, black box, thick enough to touch the bottom of the wardrobe.

It was big enough to… put a rabbit suit in.

Darkness filled the screen as AJ, whose breathing rapidly increased, put the flashlight aside to pull the box out from underneath the dusty piece of furniture. Kaitlyn didn't notice it while she was watching this, her mouth had turned so dry that her tongue was sticking against the roof. This could be it; if that rabbit suit was in that box, it would officially confirm that Alfred Peters, that old sick bastard, had indeed been the Hope's Creek Killer and AJ could've gone home with an immense feeling of inner peace.

But if it wasn't… then what could be in it?

She picked up the flashlight and still held it in her hand when she hooked her trembling fingers underneath the lid of the box, pointing the camcorder at it while she didn't hesitate for a split second to take it off and lay eyes upon what she had been hoping to find from the moment she arrived in Hope's Creek.

It wasn't the suit.

Countless pairs of eyes of the little toddler boys (who she had never seen around town) on the photographs, filled with intense distress and pain as they all underwent the worst thing imaginable that you could do to rob an innocent child from his carefree childhood, stared back at Kaitlyn, who immediately clenched her eyes tightly shut and turned her head away. In the blink of an eye, she felt sick to the core. Her mouth opened to gasp for air, but instead, she switched to gagging. Oh dear God, no, Jesus fucking Christ, no, she couldn't look at them, this was too awful, too sick for words, no, sick didn't even correctly describe these god-horrid photos, they were… they were… monstrous. Burn in Hell, Mr. Peters, burn in fucking Hell; that was the only thought that played over and over again in her head, like the needle of a record player stuck on the record.

And AJ obviously thought the same. The two-toned woman heard her gasping in absolute shock, followed by a brief period of silence; that is, if her shaking breathing didn't count as a sound. At this moment, Kaitlyn refused to open her eyes, afraid to lay eyes upon those abominable photographs again. While still clenching her eyes shut, she heard the rustling of paper, but still didn't want to look. What the hell was she doing? The two-toned woman wanted to know, yet didn't dare to open her eyes. The rustling continued for more than ten seconds, but to Kaitlyn, it felt like an eternity. Suddenly, the sound stopped. She still wasn't sure whether she could look again, though. Dearly hoping from the bottom of her heart that she wouldn't see those photos again, she turned her head and slowly opened her eyes. Through her eyelashes, she thankfully saw AJ's face on the small screen, illuminated in the light of her flashlight. Even though this resulted in a bit of an eerie look, it made Kaitlyn feel safe enough to fully open her eyes. Her childhood friend's face, who was staring straight into the camcorder's lens, expressed just as much disgust and horror as the two-toned woman did. Her mouth slightly trembled as it opened, like she was trying to say something, but she quickly closed it. AJ shook her head.

'I-It… It wasn't him.' she softly spoke. 'It had never been him. Alfred Peters wasn't the Hope's Creek Killer, h-he wasn't Mr. Buns. I mean, I mean… think about it. This here, this… oh God, I want to puke… those kids on those photos here were all little boys who couldn't be older than four or five, I don't know, fuck, but… All three of his victims were girls from around my age, they were much older. He's probably still out there and Alfred had been the scapegoat for seventeen years! I mean… would that make sense? I… I hope I do. I… God. I feel sick.'

Then the screen suddenly turned blue; the tape had ended.

By this point, it felt like almost every drop of blood inside Kaitlyn's body had been frozen solid.


	10. The First Victim

**Chapter 10**

 **The First Victim**

'No! Let go of me! Let go! No! No!'

Panic instantly kicked in and pumped through her veins with incredible speed when AJ felt soft fabric touching her arms, followed by a strong tug on her bound wrists which forced her to get up. Even though she had been blindfolded from the moment she had finished eating her breakfast, the petite woman could easily guess who was now standing behind her.

That son of a bitch, Mr. Buns, that sick son of a bitch who she would forever loathe for as long as she would live, had been around her all morning… and not once did his constant presence make AJ feel less on edge. She was boiling with rage; pure, genuine rage. She would give anything to get free from the tape that held her wrists together, grab something heavy (like that dusty rocking horse or a full toy chest) and bash his head until there was nothing left of his skull to crush, every brick on the walls was covered with his blood and his brain had turned into some disgusting, bloody, fleshy goop. But at the same time, AJ feared him, a lot. His threats weren't empty and his surprisingly massive strength and ungodly temper helped to back them up. The petite woman didn't doubt for one moment that this fluffy psychopath wouldn't hesitate to break her neck like a twig if she dared to attack him again. It was these two emotions that were clashing for which one was the strongest, she couldn't decide which one she felt more. During the moments where she was forced to spend time with him, Mr. Buns had been acting calm, gentle even. He held the powder blue tray which he put his prisoner's breakfast on like it was made of glass, he was walking down the short flight of stairs that slowly. Then he put it in front of her and backed away a few steps, as if he wanted to give her enough personal space to eat her breakfast in peace. But is there such thing as enjoying the most important meal of the day in the presence of the monster that ruined your life from a young age? No way.

'Here you go, my beautiful little girl…' Mr. Buns had told her, again with that endearing tone in his unnaturally deep voice. 'I made it with a lot of love.'

Go fuck yourself with your love, you twisted fucker. As much as AJ had wanted to hurl this insult to his head, but the earlier threat of Mr. Buns bashing her brains in crept up from the back of her mind and heeded her for doing this. Looking at the tray, it turned out that her breakfast consisted of a glass of orange juice and a hunk wrapped in aluminum foil. Peeling this off, the petite woman found out that the material was making sure the warmth of one single croissant (which obviously looked store-bought) wouldn't escape. The smell found its way into her nose, causing her empty stomach to emit a loud rumble. This made her realize how insanely hungry she was, but at the same time, something inside her was screaming at her to not sink her teeth into that croissant. As delicious as it looked, it didn't mean that it was completely safe to eat it; who knew what that bastard could've laced it with. One bite and she would either vomit until her body would go numb, experience the worst pain imaginable or the absolute worst case: pass out, which would allow him to do whatever he wanted with her. That last thought made her want to throw the croissant in the corner like it was some poisonous snake, but another stomach gurgle echoed through the cellar, reminding her once again that she was practically starving. Unable to keep her eyes off the breakfast, AJ felt her mouth watering. She didn't want to, she really didn't want to eat it… but the immense hunger ultimately won the inner conflict. The petite woman took small bites and sips. It looked like there was nothing wrong; the croissant and orange juice tasted like they were supposed to taste like. However, the drink didn't do anything to moisten up AJ's throat and once again, Mr. Buns was the cause of this. Even though he had been willing to give her at least some personal space, the petite woman felt his constant gaze on her while she consumed her breakfast. She did look up a couple times and not once had he turned his head. It was almost like he was fascinated by watching her eat but at the same time, it had something eerily predatory. He was hungry… for her. That thought made AJ almost unable to eat, but in the end, only a few crumbs were left on the tray.

Almost immediately after this, Mr. Buns muttered something that sounded like an apology before the tape was brought out again. Before the petite woman had the chance to fight back, he had already tied her wrists together behind her back and a long piece of fabric (possibly a dishcloth, because there was this faint smell of dish soap) turned the small world around her dark. It was that darkness and helplessness that made AJ feel on edge for nearly the entire morning… and the shuffles, those constant shuffles that were heard all around her during that time, almost drove her mad. It sounded like something heavy being dragged across the floor. Each time when this noise ended, another noise came in; creaking. The stairs, she realized. And after the creaking would stop, more creaking could be heard somewhere in the distance, before thumping and even more creaking would echo through her prison and the exact same sequences of sounds repeated itself. What the hell was that son of a bitch doing? But no matter how many times she asked him this, Mr. Buns flat-out ignored her, humming a tune that would've sounded cheerful if it wasn't for his demonically deep voice while he continued to do what he was doing.

During those hours (which honest to God felt like an eternity), AJ constantly anticipated the moment of where she would be touched by those plush hands… and what she feared for, was now a reality.

As soon as she was up on her feet, the petite woman began screaming like a cat being skinned alive. This was it. He was ready to finish what he had started seventeen years ago. She knew damn well what he wanted from her, it made her sick to her stomach and enraged her at the same time, it made the will to escape kick in with full force. Mr. Buns was still holding her by her wrists as he ushered her to the stairs; as a response, AJ attempted to pull herself away from him with all the strength she had, hoping that she would be lucky enough to free herself from his grip and make a run for it… but how far would she get with the dish cloth that was blinding her? She didn't think about this for one second, though; the only thing she was thinking about was getting the hell out of here before Mr. Buns could lay one finger on her. She kept on pulling and pulling, her throat began to burn due to the screaming, her heart was pounding like a jackhammer… all of this came to an abrupt end when a mercilessly hard blow landed on the side of her head; even though everything around her was clad in darkness, it still felt like everything was shaking. A sledgehammer wrapped in plush, that's how it felt like.

'Behave!' Mr. Buns bellowed in her ear.

He had punched her with so much strength that her head instantly felt light. The petite woman felt herself drifting away, she struggled to remain conscious but the fact that her eyes had been forced closed made this incredibly hard. Her legs felt like goo, she had barely any control over them; if Mr. Buns hadn't been holding her, she surely would've collapsed to the floor. The energy to scream wasn't there anymore, she was too afraid of fainting if she would do so; one miserable, trembling whimper was all that could come out of her mouth.

Once again, Mr. Buns had won.

Now that she barely had any strength left in her legs, it had become so much easier for the psychopath to take control over his 'beloved' victim and lead her towards the stairs; AJ was barely conscious enough to walk along with him and keep up the pace, all while she was struggling to stay awake and not give into that awfully light feeling in her head. Her legs touched something hard; that had to be the staircase. They both walked up the stairs, taking small, careful steps. But despite this carefulness, the petite woman almost tripped when they were almost at the top. It was the tight grip on her wrists that prevented her from landing face-first on the cold, dusty wood. 'Look out, darling…' Mr. Buns said. 'I don't want my beautiful little AJ to get hurt because of her own clumsiness! It suits you, though. You really are still like a little girl.' God, if she hadn't been so weak, she would've puked.

They reached the top of the stairs and after they took a few more steps, AJ heard the basement door closing behind them. From that moment on, she found herself wondering in the dark unknown, her only guide being a twisted bastard in a stale-smelling rabbit suit who could steer her into any direction he wanted to. She was nothing more but a puppet, whose strings were pulled and twisted with twisted glee. The walking pace somewhat quickened as soon as Mr. Buns forced her to turn left. The surface they were walking on was flat and hard, occasional creaking was often heard. She had no idea where they were, but it smelled just as stale as it did in the cellar. Where the hell was she? Where was he taking her? It was those thoughts that dwelled inside her cloudy mind that somehow helped the petite woman to get a tighter grip on her fading consciousness. She could be anywhere, but she couldn't really figure where exactly. She continued to walk in a straight line until a tug on her wrists forced her to go left again; the same happened again after five more steps. As soon as the tips of her new shoes touched something hard, she knew that was going to have to go up another flight of stairs. This was indeed what happened. AJ tried her best to keep up the pace as Mr. Buns began pushing her up the stairs, which was nearly impossible at this point. Her legs felt almost entirely like jelly, she had barely had any control over them. More damn creaking wood; wherever she was being held captive, the location had definitely seen better days. The petite woman noticed that this staircase was much longer than the other one, thus requiring more energy from her to keep walking. Her legs were going to give out at any moment, and when they would, she would possibly lose whatever was left of her consciousness.

'Almost there, almost there…' Mr. Buns whispered, as if he knew that she was on the verge of passing out.

It was probably a miracle that AJ made it to the top of the stairs without her body and mind giving up on her. Her captor didn't give her a chance to catch her breath, though. He tugged her wrists to the left one more, forcing her to walk down what had to be a corridor, at least, that's what the petite woman assumed. Right on that moment, another kind of dread overlapped the one that she already had; for some reason, she had the feeling that at any second one of her feet wouldn't find any surface and cause her to plummet into a bottomless pit that her tormentor had prepared for her. That thought made her heart pound like crazy, with each step she feared that this was going to happen. Even though nothing happened, it didn't ease the anxiety for one bit. Suddenly, Mr. Buns tugged her wrists to the right and stopped dead in his tracks after taking two last steps, forcing his victims to halt as well. The grip around her wrists somewhat loosened and something soft brushed past her arm. Something clicked. Was it a door? There was a faint thud, followed by shrill creaking. The sound somehow reminded her of rusty door hinges being put in movement after countless years of keeping a room locked. Immediately after this, her captor gently pushed her, causing her to stumble forward; even though the push hadn't been rough, it was nearly enough to fall. After forcing her to take five more steps, he pulled her wrists downwards with enough force to go down on her knees. The petite woman expected them to touch the cold, hard floor again, but instead, she felt that she was kneeling on something warm and soft. Was it… a carpet?

Mr. Buns finally let go of her wrists, moved his hands to the back of her head and untied the dishcloth. 'Open your eyes, sweetheart…' he said. 'This is your new room!'

That's exactly what AJ did.

There had been very few times in her life where she had been at an absolute loss of words… and this was one of them.

She had entered the room that would only exist in the dreams of every eight year-old girl in the entire country, no, scrap that; the entire world. The bedroom was large, definitely way larger than that stale-smelling basement that would send anyone unfortunate enough to suffer from claustrophobia flying into a panic attack. Hell, everything in this bedroom was a stark contrast to that hellhole. Tiny, hot pink and apple green butterflies were printed on the soft pink wallpaper that had been neatly applied to the walls, not one tear or moldy spore could be spotted, like it had been done recently. Illustrations of flowers, ballerinas in pastel-colored tutu's and goo-goo-eyed cartoon bears and kittens had been put in white frames and were hung on the walls on several spots. A huge carpet made of white faux fur was placed in the middle of the bedroom. Looking to her right with her mouth slightly agape, AJ saw a bed that was big enough for two people to fit in, but only one pillow was all she could see. The pillow cover and sheets were stainless white and had pink polka-dots on them; even from this distance, the petite woman could smell that they had been freshly washed with a laundry detergent of which the aroma of roses was definitely used. On the left and right side of the bed, there was a white nightstand with pink hearts painted on the drawer. And let's not forget about the toys. Dear God, so many toys… Plush rabbits, dogs, cats, monkeys, elephants and bears that all looked like they had been purchased at some point during the sixties or seventies, had been put in a line across the bed's footboard. More of them had been put on top of a white, waist-high dresser. In the far left corner of the room, a small wooden table with four chairs could be seen; the chairs were occupied by a big, brown teddy bear with a red ribbon wrapped around his neck and three dolls with curly hair, long eyelashes, emotionless glass eyes and Victorian dresses, waiting for someone to pour him some 'tea' in their porcelain, white tea cups with light blue swirls painted on, which was part of a tea seat that had been put on the table. The toy chests and rocking horse that the petite woman recognized from her temporary stay in the cellar were put not too far from the tea party corner; same could be said for the stuffed animals and dolls. In the right corner next to her, on the right of the bed, was a TV. It was put on a small table and numerous videotapes with titles of vintage cartoons printed on the back were stacked on top of the device. On her left was an ivory white dressing table. Strangely enough, there was also some noticeable stuff that you wouldn't usually find in a little girl's bedroom. Those would be the light blue fridge and the cheap-looking cooker that only had two plates to cook your meal on across the room. Yes, there were windows, and the reason AJ could take a good look around her new, creepily sweet, pastel-colored prison was because there was enough sunlight to shine through the wooden beams that had been tightly nailed into all window frames. The mint green curtains really didn't do a good job on making being here in this bedroom feel less like yet another prison.

She had been frantically searching for words while she had been looking around, but only now did the petite woman found one.

'What…' she said with a soft voice. Her confusion was abruptly interrupted by a sudden pain in her wrists. Without any warning, Mr. Buns had ripped off the tape from her wrists. After this, he stepped back until he was standing in the doorway.

'From now on, you will stay here.' he said. 'But don't worry, my sweet princess. Mr. Buns won't let you alone for too long. I promise I will spend as much time with you as possible. We are going to have so much fun together! Just you and I… nobody who will interrupt is this time. Not anymore. I'm leaving now. My little darling, I want you to behave like a good girl, play with your dolls and watch some cartoons if you want to, as long as you behave… because if you don't, I will beat you to death. Understood?'

And before AJ got the chance to react to this threat, her captor had already closed the door, which was followed by two clicks. It wasn't hard to guess what these sounds meant. She was locked up, again.

Silence.

She knew she should get up and start looking for a way to escape, but the petite woman remained in the same kneeling position for a few minutes, letting her new surroundings sink into her. This was too surreal for words, it felt impossible to feel the right emotion for this. He really did see her like some little girl. Had he been preparing this room during the time she was out? The fact that he put so much effort into this was too damn creepy. Sick, even. Fright, confusion and anger all came together and fought for the upper hand inside her. Was she the first girl to ever enter this bedroom? Hundreds of thoughts went through her head at the same time, but this one stood out the most.

Was this… the place where he had kept them?

If she wasn't the first girl… then it must've been Alicia Fox for sure.

* * *

On that Tuesday morning, AJ had decided to forgo school entirely, from the moment she woke up.

Upon opening her eyes, the memory that it was yet another school day slowly sunk into her drowsy mind, pulling her out of her sleep. As soon as that happened, she noticed that she was feeling a bigger hatred towards school than usual. That settled it, then; she was going to skip school until it would be out for the summer, she didn't give a rat's ass anymore. The young girl was pretty sure there wouldn't be any major tests coming up for the following days, so she was convinced that it would be fine. After all, she had scored some good grades for the tests she had during this year. But even if she wouldn't go to the next grade, it wouldn't be that much of a big deal to her. She had better things to do anyway, like enjoying life to the fullest, for example. She was so done with school, you couldn't even imagine. For fuck's sake, if she was going to sit in a boiling hot classroom to be forced to listen to that boring blabbering of those teachers again, she was going to vomit. AJ had no idea of what to do during the day just yet, but she was pretty sure she would figure something out. She would never get bored that quickly.

But then, when the memory of where exactly she had been sleeping the previous night had fully sunken into her, the girl realized that she wanted to go to school for one reason and one reason alone. She slowly turned onto her side, trying not to make any noise or wake Kaitlyn up. Thanks to the dim sunlight that was shining through the bedroom window, AJ found out that she was luckily still asleep. AJ carefully sat up to glance at the alarm clock, remembering the promise of getting out before one of her parents would come in. There were still ten minutes left before the alarm would go off. Good thing she had always been an early bird. After finding out there was still some time left, the tanned girl slipped out of the bed, barely making any noise when her feet touched the carpet. She took off the nightgown Kaitlyn had been kind enough to borrow to her, folded it and put it on the bed. Then she put on her own clothes; even during this, her new friend wouldn't wake up. Just before AJ wanted to sneak towards the window to get out, she remembered something very important. She turned around and quickly grabbed her backpack, where all the clothes Kaitlyn had given her had been put inside before they went to sleep. For a split second, AJ wanted to wake her up to thank her for giving her these, but changed her mind when she thought about her parents hearing her. She decided to thank her after school. With that decided AJ walked back to the window and carefully opened it, only pausing for one moment when the frame made a shrill noise when she pushed the window upwards. AJ held her breath when she glanced over her shoulder, almost expecting Kaitlyn's parents to burst into the room, grab her and throw her out of the house. Her sight was glued onto the bedroom's door for a couple seconds, but when nothing happened, she knew it was safe. She pushed the window open a bit more until the gap was big enough for her to fit through. After taking one more glance at Kaitlyn, AJ carefully stepped through the open window and climbed down the wooden structure below her, causing some of the ivy to rustle, but thankfully not loud enough to wake anyone up. She continued to climb down until she thought it would be safe enough to jump down. A dull thud was heard when she landed with both feet on the grass; AJ took off one second later, quickly walking away from the house and down the street, all with a small grin on her face.

All of that happened in the morning. Now that school was almost out, the tanned girl was hanging around near the school gates, hoping that none of the teachers would catch a glimpse of her before the school bell would ring. But she wasn't too worried about that, though. The brick wall she was leaning against was way bigger than her, so there was no way they could spot her from inside the school building. While the minutes ticked by, AJ took it easy, leaning against the wall, enjoying the warm sunlight on her face while chewing on a piece of strawberry-flavored bubblegum, often blowing bubbles now and then. It was too bad that she wasn't carrying her walkman with her at the moment, though; hopefully she would find a song that fitted perfectly with this weather. Something relaxing, something dreamy… the petite girl absolutely loved listening to that music when the sun was shining. If only it could be summertime forever… that would make her so happy. It would mean that she didn't have to stay inside her home with her mother for the entire day. No, she would just go out, let the sun shine on her skin and do whatever the hell she wanted.

The school bell suddenly rang as loud as it possibly could, echoing throughout the entire schoolyard and immediately snapping her out of her thoughts, which almost caused the girl to swallow her bubblegum by surprise. Oh my God, finally! She peeked behind the wall and saw the doors of the building opening, allowing a flood of chattering students to spill out and enter the schoolyard. Just like always, it almost seemed like none of her peers had noticed she had skipped school once more, judging by the fact she could already hear some of her classmates cheerfully talk about what they were going to do after school all the way from the school gates. Hell, she guessed they were used to this by now. But for once, there was someone in that crowd of students who had actually been waiting to see her for the whole day… knowing this felt so strange. Someone who was looking forward to see someone like her… Kaitlyn had to be absolutely insane because of this, which had to be it, there was no other way. AJ kept on staring at the students who were approaching the school gates, hoping to catch a glimpse of her new friend.

And there she was, looking back at her and smiling from ear to ear as soon as she spotted her. Kaitlyn waved at her and ran towards the school gates before any of her peers could.

'You came!' she exclaimed cheerfully. 'Holy crap, you actually came!'

'I promised it, didn't I?' AJ replied. 'Come on, let's go before the teachers or Carmella sees us.'

'Hey, if Carmella or any of her friends try to do anything to you, they'll have to deal with me.'

For some reason, this gave a feeling of reassurance, something that AJ had barely experienced throughout her life. The two girls walked away from the school and headed down the street.

'So what have you been doing today?' Kaitlyn asked. 'Tell me, how does a day in the life of AJ Lee look like? Don't forget any of the juicy details!'

AJ chuckled because of this. 'Oh, nothing special, really... Hung around town, you know, thinking about life and stuff until it was lunchtime, bought myself a sandwich at the supermarket and a donut at that bakery because one sandwich is never enough for me aaaand… yeah, that was pretty much it, actually. How was yours?'

'Uh, well… pretty normal, for most part.'

'What do you mean?'

'Alicia Fox didn't show up today. If she had been sick or something, Ms. Ferguson would've mentioned it to the class in the morning. But she didn't say anything… plus Alicia looked pretty healthy yesterday, if you'd ask me. Isn't that a little bit weird, AJ? I mean… you can't get the flu around summertime, right?'

'Alicia Fox, huh...? Yeah, I think I know her. Always talks about becoming a famous pop star, has a new boyfriend each time I decide to go to school. That's her, right?'

'Yeah, that's her. And I don't think I was the only one who found it a bit odd. During lunch I heard some of her friends talking about her running away from home because apparently she had been seeing this boy for while. Her parents didn't exactly approve him for some reason. But even her friends sounded pretty surprised about it. You think it could be true? I heard one of them saying that Alicia had been visiting her last night before she went home by herself… you think she could've ran away with her boyfriend when she left?'

'Who knows, right?' AJ shrugged. 'It's her choice, isn't it? And hell, I wouldn't blame her. If my mother was just as controlling like her parents, I would run away as well. Simple as that. Look, maybe you should try not to think about it too much, I'm sure she'll be okay. She will probably be back in class, either singing her ass off in the cafeteria as usual or sobbing about her boyfriend dumping her, you'll see.'

Maybe AJ could've been right about that. It surprised her how her new friend was thinking about this whole situation, but somewhere, she did have a point. Alicia was known to act a little overdramatic at times, like the time she had scored a B- at a test of which she was convinced she would pass with flying colors; not once did she shut up about it during lunch, making even Kaitlyn wish for her to zip it. There was also this time during PE where they were playing dodge ball, and when the ball touched her head, she laid down on the floor, screaming and cursing about how the poor sap who had thrown the ball could've killed her. So yes, dreaming out loud about her dreams of becoming a pop star and being popular with the boys weren't the only things Alicia was known for. So was running away with some boy of who she claimed was the love of her life (like she did with every other guy she had dated at one point) just another case of her being overdramatic? Perhaps it was. Just like that, Kaitlyn decided to not think about it anymore, convinced that by the time she would be back at school tomorrow, Alicia would be sitting in class, fully come to her senses and talking about her now-ex without a shred of adoration.

But still… it was so strange.

'Hey, I want to ask you something…' AJ suddenly said. She had been thinking about it a lot during the day, but she felt like it was the right thing to do. She had put so much trust in her, now it only seemed natural to do the same thing.

'Sure! What is it?' Kaitlyn replied, a bit surprised by the question.

'Do you want to come to the woods with me? I want to show you something. It's something that means a lot to me, but… I really think you should see it.'

Knowing that trust had definitely been build up, Kaitlyn smiled from ear to ear and nodded. 'Of course! Let's go!'


	11. Pinky Promise

**Chapter 11**

 **Pinky Promise**

The weather in Hope's Creek that afternoon was perfect for a walk through the woods with a mysterious outcast like AJ Lee. It was notably hotter than it had been in the afternoon, but it didn't seem to bother the girls; in fact, they were both enjoying it, even though they didn't say this out loud. The summer heat make them feel alive, it filled them with energy. It was just the two of them, there was nobody around to bother them, which was great if you'd ask AJ. She only wanted to show her big secret to Kaitlyn and Kaitlyn alone.

It was so strange, but… somewhere deep inside, for the very first time, she had allowed herself to put some amount of trust in someone from around her age. Perhaps age didn't even matter here; this girl was the first person she felt trust towards to in general. She trusted her even more than her own mother, or any other few family members she still had, the only one she had ever met in person being her aunt Lucille, who was probably the only family member who hadn't been estranged enough to at least visit them around either her or her mom's birthday. She seemed nice despite being a tiny bit distant, but actual trust wasn't really there. No, Kaitlyn had done much more for her than she ever did. She had been kind enough to stand up to Carmella when no-one else did. AJ was convinced that things might've ended way differently if Kaitlyn hadn't been in the school cafeteria at that moment. But it was not only that. Despite the fact that she had only really got to know her for barely a day, she wanted to give her some of her own clothes. Fancy-looking clothes that her mother paid for. AJ remembered burning with envy when she saw girls dressed in those kinds of clothes in the very few fashion magazines she had read throughout her early teenage years, knowing that neither she nor her mother would ever have that much money to buy one of those petticoats, blouses, skirts, shoes or dresses. One piece of clothing that would come close to being 'fancy' was a sleeveless black dress that had been given to her by Aunt Lucille on her eleventh birthday, but that was about it. Then Kaitlyn Bonin came along and now she had a whole backpack full of beautiful clothes. It was so hard to believe that someone who barely knew her was willing to do something so… incredibly kind to her. This kindness was nearly foreign to her. Did Kaitlyn even really know who she really was? Did she know that she was the daughter of the local drug addict? She trusted her enough to show her that one spot in the woods she loved to visit the most, but telling her about her home life felt a bit harder than that.

It would probably have to wait for later. Maybe.

During the whole time they had been walking through the woods, Kaitlyn constantly kept wondering about what her friend wanted to show her. She had asked this a couple times, but each time AJ replied with: 'You'll see!' or 'Not gonna spoil it!' By the time they had crossed the bridge that connected the two hills, the girl had the feeling that AJ's surprise may have been hiding deeper in the woods than she originally thought. They had left the bridge behind them for quite some time, but even now, Kaitlyn could still faintly hear the splashing caused by the current. This, combined with the warm sunlight, the tweeting of the birds, the occasional rustling of leafs from the trees whenever a breeze rolled through the woods, gave her the feeling of how summer should be like. Peaceful, lively, beautiful. Just perfect.

That feeling of tranquility suddenly took a backseat when Kaitlyn glanced at AJ's sun-kissed arms, which were warmed up by a ray of sunlight; they were covered in numerous hideous, angry, rough bruises. All of them colored in such a deep hue of blue that they almost looked like they were black. Kaitlyn's eyes slightly widened with shock. Dear God, what happened to her? There were so many of them, all of them were fresh, like it had happened only yesterday.

'How did you get those bruises?' she promptly asked, pointing at her arms.

Shit! It was that one question AJ had hoped not to hear from her. Damn it, she knew she should've put on that jacket before heading to the school. The petite girl quickly blinked her eyes, thinking of what she should say. Speaking the truth wasn't one of the options. Her situation at home had to remain a secret, she shouldn't know it. Not only would it be incredibly hard, but also embarrassing in some kind of way. Hundreds of possible lies rushed through AJ's head, but she couldn't pick any of them. It sucked having to lie to the girl who had been kind and trusting enough to give her some of her clothes, but still… she just couldn't do it. She had to come up with something, fast; hopefully those few seconds of silence wouldn't be enough to raise any suspicion.

'Uh… I-I…' Just then, she went for the vaguest answer she could possibly think of. 'It's nothing, really.' AJ answered while trying her best to make her voice sound calm. 'Trust me, it's no big deal. I can be such a freaking klutz, you know. It happens to me all the time.' That last part pretty much revealed the truth unintentionally; while AJ wanted to bite her tongue clean off at that moment, she hoped Kaitlyn wouldn't look further into this and take this as an answer. No other question came out of her mouth for the following seconds and she decided to take this as a good sign. The petite girl felt a feeling of lousiness pooling in the pits of her stomach and chest that surprised her. Normally she had no problem with hiding her big secret from the rest because her home situation was none of their business, but Kaitlyn… it was different. Was it because she was pretty much the only person in this miserable town to treat her like a human being? Whatever it was, it made AJ feel guilty… and there had only been very few times during her life that she had felt like this.

Just then, when she looked to her left, she saw the thicket that she had walked through many times before. Thank goodness; not only were they almost there, but she also hoped the thought of the surprise getting closer would take Kaitlyn's mind off the bruises and her vague answer.

'Oh! Through here!' AJ exclaimed. 'Come, follow me! We're getting close!'

The curiosity indeed managed to take her mind off the truth behind the bruises, just like the petite girl had predicted. Kaitlyn immediately couldn't help but wonder what was hiding behind the thicket. Without saying anything but filled with wonder nonetheless, the taller girl followed her new friend, trailing off the path they had been walking on and entering the thicket. The small leafs of the bushes tickled her hands when she spread some of the greenery apart in order to get through with more ease, sharp branches often pricked her legs and through the material of her skirt and t-shirt, but didn't prick deep enough to cause any real pain or wounds. Kaitlyn ignored all of that. Not once did she look away from AJ, who was in front of her and leading her through the thicket. It looked like she had done this before, judging by the way she was moving through the bushes with so much ease. Kaitlyn had no idea where she was taking her, since even though she had been visiting the woods for as long as she could remember, she never thought of going through the thicket.

For once, she had gone of the path and taken a whole new route, all thanks to AJ Lee.

AJ was the first girl to make it through the greenery after they had been walking through it for several minutes. As soon as she got out, she brushed off some tiny leafs from her dungarees and looked back at Kaitlyn with a small smile on her face. She pointed at something behind her. 'Here we are!' she said with a hint of pride in her voice.

She couldn't get a very clear view on whatever the surprise was since she was still behind her, but it didn't last too long before she managed to catch up with AJ. And just when she was about to step out of the thicket, she finally managed to get a good look at what her new friend had wanted to show her all this time… and honestly, it wasn't anything that Kaitlyn had ever expected, to be honest. From a hidden fairy den to some mysterious, alien creature that couldn't be found anywhere in any book in this world (oh the joy of the imaginative mind of a young girl in her early teens), she had never thought of this being the big surprise. And it definitely put a smile on her face.

It was a small hut, build in front of one of the many trees around them, sheltered by the branches high above it. Even though it looked small at first glance, but if you looked again, you would realize that it was actually big enough for two people to fit in. The main frame was formed by the three rows of long, thick branches, two long vertical and a shorter horizontal one that connected the two other rows together, firmly put in the ground and sawed off at the top. The thickness of the branches was strong enough to fully support a large, metal, corrugated sheet, which must've acted like the roof of the hut. The sheet was covered with rusty spots, possibly due to being exposed to the elements for who knows how long. Upon closer inspection when she walked towards it, Kaitlyn saw that the bottom had been covered with a large, blue piece of tarp. The edges of said tarp were covered with small amounts of earth and tiny leafs. Even though AJ didn't say anything, one gesture to the make-shift hut was enough to let Kaitlyn know that it was okay to peek inside it. The girl knelt down in order to get a better view. It became clear that the tarp was acting as the floor, as it protected all the stuff inside from getting dirtied by the ground. The inside of the hut was nothing short of amazingly cozy. The tarp was barely visible thanks to the amounts of colorful sheets that had been put on it; everywhere you looked, you saw bright colors and cartoonish prints. There was a dark blue sleeping bag with white, small stars printed on the smooth fabric that looked perfectly thick enough to protect someone from the cold, put on top of a rather cheap-looking inflatable bed. A total amount of five pillows could be seen, two of which were light yellow, the other ones were soft pink, green and blue. A pile of magazines for young teen girls with an interest for the latest fashion, music and attractive male actors or singers mixed with some comic books had been neatly stacked on top of each other in the far right corner of the hut. Kaitlyn wasn't sure the portable radio next to it would receive that much of a good signal here in the woods. It looked like two plush creatures had already made this hut their home; a soft pink, tattered rabbit was taking a nap on the sleeping back while a plush lion made sure no unwelcomed invaders would enter this cozy little place; small leafs were stuck in its fluffy mane. A flashlight was lying next to the inflatable bed. Always handy.

'Wow…' Kaitlyn said with a soft voice. 'No way! This is so freaking cool!'

'This is what I like to call: _Casa La_ AJ!' her friend said, still with that same hint of pride in her voice. 'You can get inside if you want to!'

That's exactly what Kaitlyn did. She carefully crawled inside, hoping she wouldn't dirty the sheets with earth while getting in. The fabric of the sheets didn't really do much to muffle the crunching of the tarp as she moved forward, but it felt so soft on her hands and knees. Once she got fully inside, she turned her body and sat down. The top of her head grazed against the metal sheet as she did so, but thankfully there was enough space to fully sit upright. Now sitting inside the hut, Kaitlyn knew she absolutely loved this place. It was so warm, so cozy… just perfect! AJ went inside as well and lied down on the inflatable bed. 'So, what do you think?' she asked. 'Do you like it?'

'Heck yeah I do!' Kaitlyn replied. 'I had no idea about this, and I visit the woods almost every day during the summer! This is great! You really did a good job on this! Where did you get all this stuff?'

'Just some stuff that I took from my place. Minus the tarp, radio and the roof though, those I nabbed from the alleyway behind the hardware store. I have been working on this hut since the spring and I can finally say it's exactly how I want it to be. I don't know, but it's so much fun to bring something here each time, whether it's big or small, as long as it makes this place feel more like a home, you know? It feels satisfying. Check out what I got a couple days ago!'

Her hand disappeared inside the sleeping bag and a few seconds later, she retrieved a fairly new-looking walkman, with the thin headphones dangling from a wire that was attached to the device. A small smile could be seen on AJ's face when she showed it to Kaitlyn. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the petite girl had made it perfectly clear that this device belonged to her by writing her name on the hard plastic with a black, permanent marker.

'Cool!' Kaitlyn said.

'I know, right? And do you want to know the best part?' AJ's smile suddenly had something mischievous. 'I didn't even have to pay for this.'

'What do you mean?'

The petite girl chuckled. 'I found it lying near the bus stop near our school. And hey, if you don't bother being careful with your toys, well, then I'll take it, simple as that. I don't know who it belonged to at first, but I gotta say, whoever it was had a pretty good taste in music.' She pointed at the cassette tape inside, which could be seen through the transparent plastic part of the walkman. 'It's rock'n'roll. The tape doesn't say which band it is, but I'm digging it. If I have enough money, I should buy some other tapes. Listening to the same one over and over again can get so old.'

'Yeah, I know what you mean.' Kaitlyn replied. 'I could look in my room when I get home if I still have some cassette tapes for you, if you want. They fit in my radio, so I guess they could fit in your walkman as well.'

'Really?' AJ couldn't help but chuckle. 'Wow, thanks! That would be awesome!'

Just then, in the corner of her eye, Kaitlyn suddenly spotted something peeking from underneath one of the pillows. It was a small, carton, blue box, with the lid opened. At first this seemed insignificant enough, but what had been printed on the front of the box made all the blood inside the girl's body rush to her cheeks in embarrassment. It was the image of a condom. She was this close to gasping out loud, but managed to keep her mouth shut. Why the hell would there be condoms here?! Kaitlyn didn't dare to say this out loud, because she was afraid she would somehow insult her by doing this. Hopefully she didn't see her reddened cheeks… but then again, if she would ask about this, Kaitlyn could simply chalk it up to the summer heat. Sounded believable, right? As awkward as seeing the opened pack of condoms was, it strangely didn't take much of the coziness away that this hut had.

'So… do you come here a lot?' Kaitlyn asked.

'Oh yeah, I definitely do.' AJ replied, nodding her head. 'I always come here when things at home-'

Fuck!

The petite girl quickly shut her mouth and covered it with her hand when she realized about what she was going to slip out, but it was already too late. Far too late. Why did she do that?! What the fuck was wrong with her?! How could she be that stupid to blurt that out?! She had seen her reaction, there was no way she could talk her way out of this. Her own brain had fucked her over, Jesus Christ. To make matters worse, she could feel her cheeks burning with shame. Fuck, fuck, fuck…

'What's wrong?' Kaitlyn asked. This was it, AJ thought. No matter how much she was going to try to talk her way out of this, because her reaction to her own slip-up already said enough. AJ saw the genuinely concerned look in Kaitlyn's eyes. 'What do you mean? Don't you feel comfortable at home? Really, it's okay, you can tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone. I'm your friend now, remember?'

Friend. Calling her this made the girl hope that AJ would finally tell her the truth. She had already thought her answer back in the woods was incredibly strange and seeing this reaction pretty much confirmed her worries. There was something AJ was hiding from her… why was she so afraid of telling whatever was bothering her? Whatever it was, Kaitlyn wanted to help her.

Silence fell in the small hut; it was only the rustling of leafs that could be heard.

After a couple of uncomfortably silent seconds, AJ let out a sigh. Fine then; she guessed the truth would have to come out at one point anyway.

'My mom is addicted to heroin.' she said. There, it was out, at least some part of it. She saw Kaitlyn blinking her eyes one time in surprise. 'She has been addicted for years. It all pretty much began after my dad left. I think he left us when I was around… uh… three, four years old. It was around that age, either way. I barely have any memories of him, other than hearing him and my mom shouting when I was watching TV. I have never heard from him since. Ever. No phone calls, no letters, not even a birthday card on any of my birthdays. I think he wanted to banish us out of his life when he left, the fucking prick. Either way, like I said, all of this shit happened soon when he walked out on us. I guess my mom couldn't either deal with the pressure of being a single mother, cope with the fact that my dad left, or both. At first she would only smoke weed. She wouldn't get aggressive or anything, but when she was high, she could only lie down on the couch for hours with this weird look in her eyes and talk bullshit. Hell, sometimes she would be so high that she would forget to cook dinner or clean the house. But at the time I turned seven or eight, she moved on to the heroin. It's been like that ever since. You see this?' AJ paused to point at her left arm. 'This is what happens when you tick her off. All because of those goddamn drugs. I can't remember how many times I thought I would die whenever she would beat the shit out of me for whatever reason. The days where she's high are the worst, and she's high several days a week. I can't stand being at home, I fucking hate it. I hate living with my mom. That's why I decided to build this hut. I have no other family in this town to turn to. And when you're alone, you only have yourself to rely on. This hut is literally the only place where I can feel safe. If something would happen to this hut, I would have no place to go. This is my safe haven, you know? You are literally the first person I trust enough to show this. People in town have been treating me like trash because they know about my mom's drug use plus the fact that I don't go to school every day like their own precious kiddies, so they think I'm just as much of a scumbag like her. Fuck them! Fuck them all!'

There, the beans had been spilled. During this whole confession, AJ had been staring down at her feet; but because doing this made telling her story much easier. She couldn't imagine something more embarrassing than bursting into tears and crying like some baby right in front of someone who she had got to known recently. Now it was a matter of how she was going to react. Something told her that as soon as she would look up, she was going to see one of two expressions: sympathy or disgust. If it would be the latter, she would probably demand her clothes back, walk away and never talk to her again, because if your mother is the local drug addict, nobody would want anything to do with you, right? Well, this had been proven right to most kids who lived in this town, so why would Kaitlyn be any different? She had been nice to her because she didn't know about her background, which had to be it. This confession could have very well killed this blooming friendship in the blink of an eye. Just when she had finally decided to trust her… goddamn it. Telling her all of this had to be the worst idea ever. With a dry mouth, AJ looked up to stare at Kaitlyn's face.

It didn't express disgust, not for one bit; her face expressed nothing more but genuine sympathy.

'Oh my God…' she said with a soft voice. 'That's awful, I really had no idea… I'm so sorry, AJ. I'm so sorry that all of that had to happen to you! It's so unfair how they treat you, it makes me so mad!'

Despite the immense relief that welled up in her body, AJ chuckled and shook her head. 'Don't be.' she replied. 'It's okay, really. I'm used to it by now.'

'Is there really anyone you can turn to?'

'No...'

'You're wrong about that.' And then, just before the petite girl could react, Kaitlyn had wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in for a comforting hug. This sudden act of kindness caused AJ to briefly flinch and blink her eyes in surprise. This was not something she was used to. When had been the last time someone had given her a hug? Possibly her mother, since she couldn't remember any other kid ever embracing her. Her mother must've been sober when she did this, because hugging was the last thing she thought of when she went absolutely berserk on her daughter. But the last time she had been sober felt like it had been ages ago… 'Because now you do have someone.' her friend said.

She had to be kidding her… AJ had no idea about how she should respond.

A few seconds passed before Kaitlyn's gentle grip loosened and the hug was broken. With a small smile on her face, AJ patted her on her shoulder. 'Thanks.' she said. 'I, uh… I really appreciate it.'

'If nobody wants to be friends with you just because of your mom, then I will gladly be your friend.' Kaitlyn answered. 'What the hell do they know? They don't know how you really are. I think you are the coolest person I have ever met!'

This made the petite girl briefly laugh. 'Come on now, are you serious?'

'Uh, yeah! You are different than the other girls at school, that the thing what makes you so cool! You should be proud of that.'

A snigger escaped past AJ's lips. 'I don't think anyone has ever told me that before. I just hope for you that hanging out with me won't get you in trouble. Because really, what if people start knocking on your parents' door, screaming in horror about their perfect daughter hanging out with that horrible Lee girl, oh dear goodness, their precious baby, forever ruined!'

Now it was Kaitlyn who was chuckling. 'I'm not worried about that at all! Hell, I don't think they would even hear the doorbell over their own yelling…'

'What do you mean?'

She had trusted her enough to confess her own horrendous home situation to her… now it only seemed fair to cough up hers as well. Kaitlyn had been hiding it for way too long, too afraid that her parents would find out about her telling how things really were behind closed doors in one way or another. She had never even told it to Liv… It would feel so good to talk about it with someone.

'My parents fight. A lot. And it's not the average fight that happens in every marriage, no… all hell breaks loose when it happens. There's no holding them back. It gets so bad that they call each other the worst names imaginable and start throwing stuff at each other. Believe me, being stuck in a house with them all day after a fight ends is the worst. There's this… constant negative atmosphere around them the whole time. It's so tense, I can't stand it. I almost never enjoy being at home, all because of my parents. I remember being afraid of them getting a divorce, but now that I think about it, I think it's the best option for them. They can't stand each other. I'm not sure about it, but I guess the only reason why they haven't divorced yet is because they want to show everyone how much of a perfect family we are. Ha… perfect, my ass. If being perfect means that I have to fight almost every day with my husband and force myself to stay with him for the sake of my reputation, then I'd rather be as imperfect as possible.'

'Really…?' It seemed like this story had caught AJ completely by surprise. 'Damn… Honestly, Kaitlyn… I would've never thought of that. I mean… I know you live in that rich neighborhood. You live in a fancy house, you have parents who must have a well-paying job, a big room… You have the life every kid wishes for! I seriously thought your life was nothing else but perfect!'

'Oh believe me… it's not.'

AJ didn't want to say this out loud, but somehow, hearing about Kaitlyn's life at home felt comforting… at least now she knew she wasn't the only girl in town who absolutely hated being at home. Kaitlyn Bonin, out of all people…

'Hey… would you mind if I would come here whenever I can't stand being at home?' Kaitlyn suddenly asked. 'I don't have any other family in Hope's Creek either, and I'd much rather sit here for hours than listening to my parents non-stop yelling at each other and breaking stuff while they're at it.'

'Sure, be my guest!' AJ replied with a grin. 'But you gotta promise me one thing…'

'And that is?'

The grin disappeared from the petite girl's face. 'Don't tell anybody about this place. And I seriously mean: anybody! This will be our secret hideout and our secret hideout alone. Like I said earlier, you are the only one I trust enough to show you this place, because I can't trust anyone else. This place means so much to me… hopefully it will to you as well.' Then she lifted up her hand, bending four fingers into a loose fist; her pinky stood up straight.

'Pinky promise?' she asked.

There was no need to think about that twice. A big smile was present on Kaitlyn's face as her pinky met hers, immediately hooking around each other upon contact and sealing not only this promise… but somehow, also their friendship, at least, that's how it felt to her. Having AJ sharing this big secret with her and thus earning her trust and friendship felt like the biggest honor ever to her. It finally looked like she had let down the last row of bricks that were once part of of her walls that she must've surrounded her for God knows how long. All because she had been the first person ever to treat her like a friend… and now that she thought about it; it could be most likely that she could be AJ's first ever friend. That meant so much to her.

'Pinky promise.' Kaitlyn replied.

It was just the two of them. Two young girls, both in the earliest stage of the big change that was puberty, smiling from ear to ear, knowing that something truly special had been formed between them. Sitting in their hideout and not speaking a word as their pinkies remained hooked for a little while, plus the fact that they were surrounded by the lush greenery of the woods, made this moment one that they would never forget, as it was one that represented nothing else but peace and happiness. What they had now was something nobody could take away, because it was theirs and theirs alone.

It felt like tranquility spread throughout the entire woods… however, in roughly more than 24 hours, all of that changed in the most grotesque, shocking way possible.

One day after AJ Lee and Kaitlyn Bonin had officially become best friends, a seven-year old boy and his five-year old brother thought there would still be some time left to play with their plastic toy boats down the river before they had to head home, where their mother would be waiting for them with dinner. The sun had barely begun to set when the siblings arrived at the riverbank of a shallow part of the river while holding their toy boats in their arms. They hastily took off their shoes and sock before dipping their feet into the cold but refreshing water, both of them letting out a little shriek while doing so. The bottoms of their boats soon touched the water as well and soon their imagination was kicked into full gear. Splashing, laughter and energetic talking soon was heard in the area as the siblings played with their boats, allowing the toys to briefly flow with the river's currents before quickly picking them up, smashing them into the water repeatedly and taunting each other whenever one of their boat's 'bombs' hit the other. It all seemed like everything was fine… until it wasn't.

Just as the older sibling picked up his toy boat after letting it flow down the river for a few seconds, something fleshy and long brushed past his right leg. A fish, he thought as he looked down. But from the moment he laid eyes upon what was in the water, his smile instantly dropped as his eyes widened with horror. His little brother, alarmed by the loud, ear-piercing scream that escaped from his mouth, soon started screaming too when he saw it too. Both of them got out of the river like it was filled to the brim with ferocious piranhas, leaving their socks and shoes behind as they ran for their dear lives. It was only at home where they stopped screaming and told their mother with hysterically hitching breaths about what they had seen. In less than half an hour, the police officer that had been sent to search the area called for back-up with a horrified look on his face. Soon after this, the whole place was swarming with cops.

The severed arm that had brushed against the boy's leg was still there when the police officer found it, caught behind a rock, unable to travel further with the currents. It didn't last long before they found out who the arm belonged to. About a hundred meters away, a gruesome discovery was made, a sight that made everyone's stomach churn.

Lying in the shallowest part of the river was the naked, mutilated body of Alicia Fox. It was nearly impossible to exactly tell how many stab wounds she had over her entire body; it could very well be dozens, no, maybe hundreds. Not a drop of blood was left inside, which explained why the water around her didn't color red; she had literally bled dry. It was hard to hard how many times she had been stabbed, but one thing was for sure: she had been stabbed so many times that the river's gentle currents were strong enough to pull off her entire left arm.


	12. It's Been A While

**Chapter 12**

 **It's Been A While**

'Alright buddy, I think you've had enough for today. You gotta leave.'

That's what Dolph Ziggler said with the usual calmness in his voice which was common to be heard by those who happened to be around him, one moment after he had to duck to avoid getting struck right in the face by a flying glass. Luckily he had ducked away just in time; the glass was smashed into different sizes of pieces as soon as it touched the wall behind him. A loud smash had echoed through the entire bar and a second later he felt the pieces of shattered glass raining down on his shoulders, back and the back of his head, but thankfully none of them dug into him and drew any blood.

Dolph had been in situations like this many times before, he had been used to deal with costumers like this guy for a very long time now. If he would to listen to him despite being hammered like hell and wisely make the choice to leave Ziggler's without causing more trouble, that'd be great. But if he decided to continue acting like a drunken ape and smash some more glasses… then the blonde bar owner was forced to get rough with him; not that he would have a problem with it or anything. Looking straight at the drunken man who had thrown the glass at him earlier, Dolph remained calm, which seemed to enrage his customer. His bloodshot eyes almost looked like they were spewing fire, which didn't make his overall appearance look any flattering. Unshaved face, clothes that had already reeked of stale smoke and cheap beer from the moment he had set foot in Ziggler's, dark bags under his eyes… something told Dolph that this man was from the shady part of town. And he had been here a couple times before; this guy would usually drink a beer or three, (or a few shots of vodka or whiskey on other days… the blonde bar owner guessed those were the shittier days for this guy) barely acknowledge Dolph unless he wanted another drink and leave immediately after he was done drinking his last drink. What was noticeable was the fact that this chap dropped by Ziggler's at least four or five times a week… it had become perfectly clear that he was an alcoholic and he probably came here to drink away whatever was eating him up inside. Of course Dolph had tried to talk with him, several times actually, but not once did he get a response. So he kind of gave up on it and let him be. Fine then; if the poor bastard finally wanted to talk, he had to make the first move, because he had been the one trying the most. But today, it looked like he decided to open up… but not exactly in the way the blonde bar owner had hoped.

The guy had ordered a couple more shots of vodka then usual; it was after the sixth shot that things turned sour. He started going off at Dolph about him not pouring his drinks fast enough. It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon and he was already shit-faced, dear God. And when the blonde bar owner told him to calm down, he absolutely lost it. Like the man was stung by a bee, he got up from his bar stool, grabbed it and swung it across the bar, catching the attention of the handful of customers that were present at Ziggler's; while two of them looked genuinely surprised by the sudden outburst, the rest looked more like they were mildly annoyed that their moment of peace had been disturbed by this idiot. The bar stool landed right on the pool table, which was roughly two meters away from the front window. If he had thrown that thing with more force, Dolph's savings surely would've wailed in agony.

'W-Who the-' A disgusting belch escaped from the customer's mouth. 'Who the f-fuck do you think you are?! Telling me to calm down! I want another d-drink, goddamn it!'

It was right after Dolph calmly told him that he had to sit down and shut his mouth that a glass was thrown to his head; time to throw this guy out.

The blonde bar owner walked away from the bar and approached the now unwelcome costumer. He didn't want to have to use force, only if it was necessary. Something inside him told him that he was probably going to have to use it in a few seconds… and Dolph had always been the guy who listened to his gut instincts.

'Leave. Now.' he said.

'Fuck off!' was the charming answer he received, along with a strong whiff of alcohol. That was probably the sixth time during this month that this had been said to Dolph. It had already become clear that this guy wasn't going to leave by himself. That's when Dolph put his hands on his shoulders, ready to usher him towards the door. The touch was everything but really rough, but apparently this only fueled the alcohol-fueled ire of this drunken prick. In the blink of an eye, the blonde bar keeper was promptly shoved away by a pair of large, callused hands. The push almost made him stumble and fall on the ground, but thankfully he had been standing close enough near the bar to grab onto something before he could make a fall. Once again, his gut instincts had been proven right. Realizing that using force was inevitable now, Dolph deeply breathed out through his nose, having only a few seconds to mentally prepare himself for what was about to come. Here we go then.

Still retaining some of the calmness that all bar owners on the world were required to possess in situations like these, he walked towards the man in a faster pace than earlier, fast enough to deny him the chance of fighting back. Just before the drunk could respond, the blonde bar owner had already grabbed him by his shoulders, much tighter now. He wasn't going to simply usher him out time, oh no; he was going to fucking throw him out. He had been trying to be nice to him, he really did, but when he decided to wreck his shit, all of the good intentions were send flying out of the window. Dolph managed to drag the drunken man across the floor and towards the door for more than a good meter or so, but then the surprise that had overwhelmed him earlier faded, bringing out more of the alcohol-fueled rage. Just when Dolph was barely able to reach out to the doorknob, the man began to struggle, trying his best to break free from his grip while spewing the vilest insults about the bar owner's mother. Despite the fact that the blonde bar owner was three inches taller than him, he did possess quite some strength, which was most likely another result of all the vodka he had consumed earlier. For a little while, Dolph was still able to hold his grip on him, but the more the man struggled, the more he began to slip away. And he knew that as soon as he was free, he was going to launch himself at him and knock his teeth out. Sorry bud, but he wanted to keep his perfectly straight teeth for a bit longer; the blonde bar owner knew he immediately had to fight back once the fabric of the man's blouse (of which the smell of a stronger alcoholic drink had now practically dominated the smells of the cheap beer and cigarette smoke) would slip away from his fingers.

In the back of Ziggler's, where a small stage had been built two months after Dolph had taken over the ownership of the place, an electric guitar was hastily but still carefully laid down on the wood. Quickly-paced footsteps were heard in the bar and in less than five seconds later, another pair of hands grabbed onto the violent drunk's collar, giving Dolph the chance to regain his grip on him. He did so, successfully.

'Come on, open the door!' The Brian Kendrick, local celebrity, musician and Dolph Ziggler's closest friend, said to him. 'I got him! Just hurry up and do it!'

He didn't have to ask him again. While the insults the drunken man were hurled towards Brian now, the blonde bar owner quickly opened the door, swinging it open while he did so. The combined strength of the two men was thankfully enough to drag the man for half a meter and out the door. He landed on the sidewalk with a painful thud, causing him to cease his foul insults. It was only a little groan that could be heard from him when he tried to roll onto his back, but to no avail. Dolph had to admit; looking at this guy, who was now lying on the sidewalk like the most miserable pile of reeking flesh that has ever existed, had something saddening. This feeling only lasted for five seconds; this was the time it took for the man to roll onto his back and glare at the two men who were standing in the doorway. 'You m-motherfuckers!' he bellowed.

Not bothering to reply to this, Dolph and Brian turned around, the latter closing the door behind them. Right on that moment, the drunken man shouted another slurred insult, which was slightly muffled thanks to the closed door. Despite the fact that he was now outside, Dolph somehow had the feeling that he was going to try to get back into the bar from the moment he would get up. The blonde bar owner stood near the front window and peeked outside. It took the man a good ten seconds to stand up, fall onto his behind, then another five seconds to get back up on his feet. Much to his relief, he didn't try to get back inside the bar; instead, he walked away, well, it was more like stumbling than walking. Dolph opened the door again so he could get a better view and continued to watch the man until he disappeared out of his sight, thankfully not stepping inside one of the cars that had been parked in this street.

He allowed himself to softly sigh in relief. Thank God, he was gone. 'Thanks, Brian.'

'You're welcome.' Brian suddenly chuckled, shook his head and scratched the back. 'Wow…' he said. 'Some people, huh? Wonder what must've been going on in his head. Seriously though, do you want me to call the cops or something? I mean, he did throw a glass at you.'

'Nah, don't. It's fine, really. I've had worst things thrown at me. Remember that one time where that trucker threw a bar stool at me? It's actually a good thing he decided to throw that… fucker could've picked up the jukebox instead for all that mattered.'

This comment made Brian emit another chuckle. 'That's true.' He said. Looking at the musician, it was pretty easy for Dolph to guess that his friend's popularity wasn't the only thing that attracted many women. He wasn't going to lie about it; Brian was quite a handsome-looking man. Long, dark brown hair that had grown past his shoulders by a few millimeters, neatly trimmed facial hair, a square jaw line to die for, piercing blue-grey eyes and a muscled body that he wasn't shy about to show off whenever he felt like doing so, especially during gigs. Frisky evenings, rain nor cold winds would stop him from opening his purple leather jacket, his signature piece of clothing, to reveal his bare chest to the crowd, causing many women to cheer at the top of their lungs. He loved that kind of attention, Dolph knew that. Brian knew exactly what to do to charm a woman's pants off. The two had known each other for years, going way back to their late teenage years. There had been a handful of years where the contact between them had strongly faded, but now since Dolph had returned to Hope's Creek due to a family situation, the two young men polished up their friendship. The musician had a performance at Ziggler's tonight, which was why he just happened to be in his bar, practicing for the show. And the blonde bar owner had to admit; listening to his friend strumming on his electric guitar and warming up his vocal cords on that small stage was quite nice while working behind the bar. And he noticed that some of the costumers enjoyed it as well; he had seen one guy rhythmically tapping with his index finger on his beer glass when Brian rehearsed his personal favorite song, 'Captain Hook'. Yes, there could be some times where he could be one cocky bastard when his local fame or his skills, or the years where he had been in a band became the subject of conversation, but he was a great guy to be around with nonetheless.

'I should clean up that glass…' Dolph mumbled and walked away, back to the bar to look for a brush and dustpan.

'Do you want me to help you?' Brian asked.

'No thanks, I can do this. Thanks again for back there, dude.'

From the corner of his eye, Dolph saw his friend walking back to the stage, probably planning on continuing his rehearse session. Fine with him. It wasn't hard to find the brush and dustpan and while he squatted down to sweep up the glass shards, the blonde bar owner wondered about for how much longer he had to keep this business running until he could get the hell out of this town.

Running Ziggler's had been a struggle, to say the blonde bar owner remembered feeling a sense of relief when he was practically forced to leave his home, a couple weeks after Christmas, by the age of 19 to join the army, all because he and his father couldn't stop butting heads. He had been fine with it; he had always hating working in his old man's bar, so he would much rather join the army. The further away from his dad and his shitty business, the better, he had thought. He knew his father wanted him to join because he thought a bellowing sergeant could straighten his rebellious son out with some good ol' military discipline, because clearly he no longer knew how to force him to live by his rules. Rules that Dolph absolutely despised; the main rule being that of spending each second of free time he had helping his old man in his bar. For fuck's sake, he was 19 years old, he wasn't some goddamn child anymore. His father should've known that. Dolph knew what was in store for him at the military, but hell, at least he would be away from the bar and his dad. And hell… wearing a uniform would definitely give him a bigger chance of scoring big with the girls; definitely a thought that belonged in the head of a boy like Dolph.

He was discharged before he could even finish his training; the reason for that being ending up in a full-blown fist-fight with a fellow cadet and breaking his nose, eye socket and his front teeth, because he had the guts to cruelly mock the stomach-churning ordeal someone he had known very well in the most horrifying summer of his life had gone through. To this day, the blonde bar owner didn't regret beating the living shit out of that guy. Not for one bit.

From that moment on, you could say that Dolph Ziggler's life had hit a rough patch. His father was obviously less than thrilled to hear that not even the military could handle his angry son. After hearing that he would not have a place to return to amongst a few other harsh words, Dolph hung up on his own father, knowing that their bond was now pretty much beyond repair. Luckily another fellow cadet he had befriended during the time he had been training, who just happened to have a small apartment in Portland, was friendly enough to let him crash at his place until he had saved up enough money to get a place on his own. Dolph stayed there for about a year, working on a construction site by day and drinking and smoking on the couch by night, waiting until it was finally time to go to bed. He worked through his hangovers, somehow managing to hide it despite the fact that all the drilling and thumping made his head feel like exploding. Thank God for the persons who invented aspirins and eye drops. Eventually he had enough money to rent an apartment in a smaller city outside of Portland. Everything went well for quite a while, one year actually; he continued to work at the construction site and he didn't feel the urge to drink and smoke the nights away, instead choosing to hang out at friends' places for some good laughs and a good time. All was good… until the company he had worked for decided to fire him for an unclear reason. This rejection hit Dolph hard. And before he knew it, his drinking habit reared its ugly head, but this time worse than ever. He began drinking his anger and frustrations away, even during the day; the urge to drink was especially strong after he had received yet another rejection for a job interview. It was the only way he knew how to soothe it all; bitching and whining about his situation to his friends didn't really help that much, since the frustration would still be there. His drinking got worse and worse, getting to the point where he could barely remember what had happened before he put his lips on the bottle. The rent suffered due to this as well. It was only when an eviction note landed on his doormat that Tuesday morning after yet another night of cursing and heavy drinking, he knew that things had to change drastically if he wanted to better his life.

Dolph spend roughly about three months in a rehabilitation clinic for alcoholics. Never in his entire life had he seen so many broken souls gathered in one single building, some of them having gone through worse shit than he had been. He had spoken with men who tried to drink their sorrows away after their estranged wives kicked them out of their homes due to a divorce, women who sought their solace in the alcohol to push away the memories of an abusive marriage or childhood. Looking in their eyes, where so much pain and hopelessness had been hiding, he swore to God that he would lay off the alcohol for as long as he would live, for he didn't wish to have that same look in their eyes as they did. It was all thanks to the clinic that he had remained sober and he was so goddamn proud of it. After he finally got out, Dolph kept up with this. No more alcohol, ever again.

From that moment on, his life thankfully got back on track. For the next decade, he took it easy. Dolph had some jobs here and there, never jobs he would receive a permanent contract for at the end of the road, but he was thankful for them nonetheless, because at least he could pay his bills. He wasn't rich, but at least he had some money. He had moved at least three times during this time. He maintained good contact with friends and family throughout all those years. All was good, it really was… until one day, about one week after he had been released from his latest job, when he received a phone call from his distraught mother, informing him that his father had suffered a fatal heart attack while he was cleaning up Ziggler's.

Dolph's sudden trip to Hope's Creek had resulted in three speeding tickets on the very same day. After the funeral had taken place, it was revealed in Carl Ziggler's will that he wished for his only son to take over the family business. Dolph hated to admit it, but this left a foul taste in his mouth. Not only would he be back at that one place he never wished to work at again, but he also feared being surrounded by nothing else but booze could cause him to relapse. He hadn't drunk one drop of alcohol during those ten years and that probably the biggest achievement he had ever made, it was that one thing he had been proud of the most. A recovered alcoholic working in a bar… to Dolph, it almost felt like his father had decided to play a cruel joke on him. But then again, despite all the arguments they had in the past, he cared about his father. Their bond had improved immensely during all those years, even during the time where Dolph drank his days away. He supported his decision to go into rehab for a full hundred percent and told him how proud he was of him when he got out. And owning this bar would mean that he never had to be depended on permanent contracts again. Running Ziggler's also pretty much kept the memory of his father alive.

And thus Dolph became the new owner of the bar. He decided to move back to Hope's Creek due to the distance he would have to drive each day and settled down in a house that was few blocks away from Ziggler's. However, the ownership took off with a rocky start, as it turned out that the business was in debt for over 15.000 dollars, huge stains of mold had formed on the ceilings of the bathrooms and a sudden rat infestation kept most of the customers away, especially the women. With some money that he had saved up during the years, the blonde bar owner managed to pay off the debts and hired a professional pest control company to get rid of the unwelcome rodents. He took care of the mold problem himself. And with that, the first problems he had faced were solved. For the following two years, business was pretty much booming. Each night, Ziggler's would be packed with some of the locals, most of them people in their twenties or thirties, anyone who decided to visit the bar to have a drink and a good laugh. Dolph had to admit, it didn't seem that bad. He occasionally had good conversations with some of the customers, the staff he had hired did their work well, there wasn't that much to complain about. Sure, he had to throw out a belligerent drunk or some prick who simply wanted to pick a fight every now and then, but that was pretty much it. And despite all the temptation that was literally all around him, he was able to stay sober during each night.

But then, when nobody suspected it, tragedy struck the Ziggler family once again.

Just when Mary Ziggler, Dolph's mother, had made her eighth step while walking from her house to her neighbor's house to bring a pan of deliciously cooked macaroni, a sudden stroke caused her to collapse to the cold ground; if the neighbor hadn't heard the loud bang the heavy pan made when it fell, an ambulance would've probably never been called on that cold night. Thankfully the stroke hadn't been fatal, but unfortunately it left her permanently paralyzed on her left side. There was barely any space inside her home to move around with a wheelchair and living on her own had become nearly impossible, thus forcing her to move to a retirement home in Elm Town, a few kilometers away from Hope's Creek. Even though the place was located near the lush woods and the staff members had been nothing but polite and helpful, Dolph knew that his mother was miserable there; she preferred to live in her own home, but she knew this was no longer possible, which saddened her so much. Seeing her like this broke blonde bar owner's heart, but there wasn't much he could do to help her besides visiting her in the afternoon after cleaning up the bar after another night of handling his customers and try to make her feel better by carefully pushing her through the woods and casually talk about the week. It was around this time when the struggles to keep his business running began. Dolph noticed that less and less people were visiting Ziggler's; there had been times where only ten customers would visit the place. It wasn't rocket science to figure out why, honestly. Bars in the nearby cities that were way more appealing for younger people began popping up like flowers in the early spring, turning Ziggler's from a popular hotspot for the locals to a pit stop for truckers who just happened to pass through Hope's Creek during their trip and some of the jobless residents of the town. This was bad, of course Dolph knew that. If things wouldn't change, he would be forced to shut the entire business down… which also meant he could lose his house as well. It was time to grab a big handful out of his savings yet again. The blonde bar owner spent almost his entire savings to remodel the entire bar in an attempt to bring back his customers. The bar stools were replaced, new wall paper was plastered on each wall, a stage was build in the back for bands and artists to entertain everybody, the stained, dark red carpet floor was replaced with a clean, smooth laminate… everything you could possibly think of when renovating a bar, Dolph did it, all so he could safe Ziggler's. He did his best, he really did… but despite his best efforts, people still seemed to prefer going out to the bars outside Hope's Creek.

After this, running Ziggler's for the following three years had been nothing but a struggle. The renovation did help to get at least a bit more customers, enough to keep enough money coming in, but it was a struggle nonetheless. Dolph had no idea for how much longer he could keep going on like this. This bar was his only source of income, he didn't have anything else. It felt like he was chained to this damn place. He wasn't going to lie about it; for a while, he was thinking about selling the bar. He just couldn't do it anymore. But the one thing that kept him from doing this was his mother, the person who had supported him throughout this tough time. Dolph knew that he would break her heart by selling the place that had held so many memories of his father. That's why he decided to not do it. But in February, Mary Ziggler had suddenly suffered yet another stroke, this time in her sleep. And it was fatal. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, his mother had been ripped out of his life; Dolph swore that he had been this close to put a bottle of beer to his lips for the first time in fifteen years. But thankfully he had managed to pull through and give the mourning a place in his heart, most of it was thanks to Brian. Nobody in this entire town had been there for him like he had been; the musician had done nothing but his best to help his friend cope in those immensely tough months.

Now that his mother had passed away, there was no longer any reason for Dolph to keep the failing bar. His plan was to find a new job around Hope's Creek and as soon as he would, he would sell the place. He could find a place to live outside of this town so that visiting his friend here would still be possible, although he wasn't entirely sure about this.

But unbeknownst to Dolph Ziggler, something, or rather, someone was about to make him stay in his hometown for a bit longer.

All the glass shards had been collected. The blonde bar owner stood up and walked towards the trash bin to dump them in. As he came back to the bar a few seconds later, he noticed a few empty glasses that had been left on the edge. Cleaning them definitely would keep him busy, even if it would be for a couple seconds. One by one, Dolph grabbed the glasses and thoroughly cleaned them, making sure not a drop of alcohol was left on the sides or bottom. While he was drying the third glass, he heard the door opening, but he didn't really bother to look up. He decided to check it out exactly who this costumer was as soon as he was done.

'Hey… can I maybe get a beer, please?' the voice of a young woman asked; and judging by the tone in her voice, it sounded like she could really use one.

'Of course you can. Just hold on a…' Dolph had just putted away the last glass and looked up, laying eyes upon a young, attractive woman in her early thirties, her long hair dyed in two different hair colors; blonde and dark brown. Staring at her for three seconds, all of his troubles seemed to disappear into the background for a moment, for he could swear that he knew her from somewhere. At first it had been her voice that made the bar owner dig deep inside his memories. It had been so long ago that he had heard it, yes, but… when had it been? Now looking at her face, it felt like some of the pieces were beginning to fall on the right places. It became clear that the woman was feeling the same thing; she too had that puzzled look on her face as she was looking back at Dolph.

Right on that moment, Dolph remembered, nearly causing him to drop his jaw. He just had to ask.

'Kaitlyn…?' he asked, hardly believing who he was seeing. 'Kaitlyn Bonin…?'

The woman blinked her eyes in surprise a couple times before curling the corner of her mouth into a wide smile as her face began to beam with happiness more and more. 'Dolph… is it really you?' she asked.

The blonde bar owner nodded. Holy hell… it really was her! After all these seventeen years… Kaitlyn Bonin! Dolph wasn't the only one here who could barely believe any of this happening.

'Oh my God!' the two-toned woman exclaimed, unintentionally catching the attention of some of the customers in the meanwhile, including Brian; apparently her voice had been so loud that he had heard all the way in the back. 'It is you! No freaking way! I-I can't believe it! Dolph! I thought you had left!' Out of all people she had been expecting to run into while she was staying here… Dolph Ziggler had been the last person. Knowing that he too had remembered her in a matter of seconds proved that he had never fully forgotten her despite the fact that nearly two decades had passed since the last time they had seen each other. Looking at his face, Kaitlyn realized how little he had changed… His blonde hair back in 1980 had been barely long enough to tie into a short ponytail; it had noticeably grown longer, almost past his shoulders and was still tied in a ponytail. Those blue-grey eyes of his had this tired look before he had realized an old friend had entered his bar, but now they seemed to regain that twinkle that she could still recognize as well. And by looking at the bar owner's arms, the two-toned woman could tell that he had continued to take good care of himself even after he had left his late teen years behind… that is, for as far as she could tell. God, it all felt so surreal, but seeing Dolph again was something she definitely needed.

Kaitlyn's entire stomach felt like it had been turned upside down when she was sitting there in her motel room, frozen and sickened to the core by what she had seen earlier. Those horrid images of the young boys had nestled into her memories and she knew they would permanently settle down there. It felt like they were with her, in the motel room, standing around her bed and gazing at her with their wide, teary eyes that were filled with fear and pain to the brim. Staying her any longer would result in a wave of vomit covering the sheets, Kaitlyn was convinced of that. She needed a drink, a really good one, just to make her forget about those stomach-churning photos. One drink and one drink alone; that's why she had gone to this bar. The two-toned woman knew the route to the place like the palm of her hand… it was one of those things she would never forget, and for a reason. She had honestly expected to see Dolph's old man standing behind the bar because she had known that Dolph didn't enjoy being there at all, but seeing this one guy who had played such a huge role in her early puberty… it was possibly the only good thing that had happened to her today.

The blonde bar owner laughed and shrugged. 'I did… but it looks like the past has caught up with me. I'm the owner of Ziggler's now!'

'Really? What about your father?'

The smile on Dolph's face shrunk in size until it nearly resembled a flat line. 'He, uh… he suddenly passed away a couple years ago. He wanted me to take over the bar when he was gone, so… I did it, for him, you know?'

Now it was the face of Kaitlyn's turn to drop the smile. She slightly widened her eyes in surprise. 'Oh no…' she said. 'I'm so sorry… how did he die? Was he sick?'

Dolph shook his head. 'No. He suffered a heart attack when he was cleaning up one night.'

'My God… that's awful! And your mother? How is she doing? Does she still live in Hope's Creek?'

'She has passed away as well. A couple months ago actually, in February. She had a stroke in her sleep. She had one before that paralyzed her on her left side and well… she didn't survive this one.'

'Jesus… I'm sorry Dolph, I had no idea…'

'I know… it's been pretty tough, but… I gave it all a place, you know what I mean?' Dolph quickly thought of something in an attempt to change the rather saddening subject. 'But how have you been doing? It has been such a long time, I…' He let out a brief chuckle before her continued. 'I still can't believe you're actually here! When I came back to Hope's Creek, I found out that you had moved away with your mother a long time ago and your dad... didn't he move away as well? At least, that's what I heard, but I can't really remember where he went.'

'He went to Florida with his new wife.'

'Damn.'

'It's fine. It's better this way.'

The blonde bar owner nodded in silence. Of course he knew about how Kaitlyn's home situation had been like in the past and he had to agree with her; it was much better for her parents to live as far apart as possible.

'So what brings you to Hope's Creek?' he asked. 'Are you visiting someone?'

To Dolph, Kaitlyn couldn't lie. She never could have, not even in the past. She had no idea if Dolph could still remember this, but he had meant so much to her then… even so to this day. Sure, it may have been seventeen years, but she had never forgotten how much she had valued his friendship. Her secret would be safe with him, she knew that. Dolph wouldn't betray her… right? Come on, he wasn't like that! If she could've trusted him back then, she surely could still trust him now. Kaitlyn glanced around her. The very few customers in this bar were paying no attention to her at all; they were more focused on the conversation they shared with each other and their drinks. The same went for the man on the stage, who was way too busy rehearsing riffs on his electric guitar. Even though it seemed to be safe at first, she knew she should still be extremely careful. This was something between her and Dolph. It was absolutely something that should never, ever, be overheard by anyone else around here. The two-toned woman slightly leaned over the bar and gestured the blonde bar owner to get closer, which he did.

'It's not really safe to talk about it right now.' Kaitlyn spoke, keeping her voice low. 'I want to tell you about it, but it has to be somewhere private. Do you know where the Pinewood Motel is?'

'Uh… yeah, I do.'

'Good. I'm staying in Room 32, on the first floor. Do you think you have time to come over? I will explain everything to you there. You're the only one I trust enough to talk with you about it, Dolph. Please…'

He didn't say anything for a moment, staring at her with a puzzled look on his face… and then he nodded. 'Okay then.' he said. 'I always shut down the bar to get lunch at half past two, so yeah, we can go there together. You'll have to wait for almost half an hour, though. Is that fine with you?'

The two-toned woman breathed out through her nose in relief and nodded. 'Yeah, it is. Thanks, Dolph. Oh, and one more thing…'

'And that is?'

'I'm still waiting for my beer.'


	13. Be Careful

**Chapter 13**

 **Be Careful**

As soon as Dolph had closed the door behind him, he decided to not beat around the bush. He wanted to know what the hell was going on, right now; it has become pretty clear to him that Kaitlyn Bonin hadn't returned to Hope's Creek for a simple nostalgia or sightseeing trip.

'So what's going on here?' he asked, the tone in his voice sounding far from angry or annoyed, but genuinely curious. 'What do you have to tell me, Kait?'

The two-toned woman sat down on the edge of her bed, looking right back at him with a dead serious look on her face. This was it. It was only her and the only person in this entire town she could entrust her secret to. It was because of her that he had decided to close his bar fifteen minutes earlier than he usually would do, possibly because he couldn't wait to find out why she wanted to talk to him in private in some motel room. The costumers may have kept him busy for a while, but apparently not enough to keep him from wondering about what was so important. She had seen the blonde bar owner ignoring the protesting comments of the handful of customers after he had announced that the bar was closing earlier for this afternoon, but thankfully they didn't bother to make a huge fuzz out of it and after expressing their last bit of their disgruntlement, everyone left Ziggler's. One of the customers, a man who had to be around Dolph's age with long dark brown hair, a jaw line to die for, piercing blue-grey eyes that somehow reminded her of dark winter mornings and carrying around a leopard-printed guitar case, had approached the blonde bar owner and told him something about being done rehearsing and bringing equipment to the bar later on, to which Dolph had nodded. The rock star had barely acknowledged Kaitlyn, only glancing at her for exactly one time while he was walking towards Dolph. Looking at the man's face, the two-toned woman was unable to really recognize him as someone she had known during her childhood in Hope's Creek. It was a shame that Dolph didn't mention his name, because if he had done so, then perhaps she had could've remembered him. After the blonde bar owner had nodded, he patted his friend on the shoulder and told him he would see him later. Somewhere deep inside her, the two-toned woman hoped that her dear old friend wouldn't share Kaitlyn's secret to him later on, whether those two men were best mates or not. Dolph and Dolph alone should know about this.

Dolph had offered to have lunch with her at a nearby diner before they would head to the motel, but she had politely declined. Yes, she would've been hungry at this time of the day and the thought of having lunch with the guy who had been so dear to her at one point during her young life was absolutely lovely, but thanks to those god-awful photos she had seen earlier (and maybe also because of the glass of beer she had chugged down in an attempt to drown the memory of those poor little boys), her appetite was as good as dead. Her old friend had accepted this and they headed to the motel on foot; using a car would've been pointless since the building was only a few blocks away. Only if they were safely inside a closed motel room, the two-toned woman would spill the beans.

Now was that moment.

'Just for the record, Dolph…' Kaitlyn said. Just then, high in the sky, a cloud had fully rolled past the sun, causing a ray of sunlight to fall through the window of the motel room, touching the two-toned woman's back and warming her skin; she didn't feel much of this at the moment, unfortunately. 'Did AJ happen to drop by at the bar during the last five days? Please tell me.'

'Huh? AJ?' The blonde bar owner slightly frowned in confusion; not because he had forgotten about her since God knows when, but it had been quite a while since he had heard that girl's name. 'Is this all because of her? Why, is there something wrong with her?'

'You could probably say that…'

Oh shit… The curiosity now had been replaced with worry, which slowly crept up north in Dolph's entire body. It had been a long time that someone had mentioned AJ Lee and he had never forgotten what had happened to her back on that awful summer night. What had been done to her would probably mentally scar any prepubescent girl for life. Now that he thought about it, he had never known whether she had been fully recovered from her trauma during these past seventeen years, or at least partially for all that mattered, which made Kaitlyn's words sound too ominous for his liking. Despite the warmth of the sunlight that was now shining through the window and the serenity that belonged perfectly on a summer day that it brought along with him, he felt his body turning cold.

This couldn't be good.

'Has she been visiting you?' Kaitlyn asked, hoping from the bottom of her heart that he had seen her.

The blonde bar owner shook his head. 'I'm afraid not.' he replied. 'I would've seen her for sure if she had visited the bar, I'm always there, on each day of the freaking week, so it should be impossible that I've missed her.' Dolph wasn't entirely sure about this, however. There had been a couple times where he had to go to the small office in the bar to pick up the phone or check the paperwork in one of the many folders he had crammed the waist-high bookcase with, so the possibility that he might've missed AJ Lee walking into his failing bar was there. Dana Brooke, the part-time bartender since roughly a month ago and single mother of a baby boy whose father flaked out almost immediately after the birth, didn't tell him anything about a petite woman with a sun-kissed skin and brown eyes that hopefully had regained that mischievous twinkle in the corners who asked to see him… but then again, she could've forgotten to tell him. Perhaps he could ask her if she knew anything tonight.

The two-toned woman let out a sigh. 'Dolph, I seriously think something might've happened with her. I have been trying to reach her for days, but she hasn't responded to any of my calls, still hasn't today. Something's really wrong… I can feel it in my guts.'

Now sharing that very same feeling with her, Dolph walked towards the bed. The mattress slightly dented when he sat down on the edge. How long had it been since he had been this close to her? To Kaitlyn, it almost felt like a century. 'What do you mean by that?'

'What I mean is that she's missing, Dolph!' the two-toned woman replied, slightly raising her voice. 'God, it's like she has vanished off the fucking Earth! That's why I came here. She told me that she would be in Hope's Creek before she disappeared. You see, before all of this happened, I just happened to run into her at the mall in Greene City. It was the first time in seventeen years that I had seen her, God, she looked like she hadn't changed the slightest, although she did act a bit distant towards me. We had lunch together… she didn't really say that much at first, she just kept going on about how many lousy boyfriends she had dated in the past and that was pretty much all she had been talking about until she dropped the bomb.'

'What? About going back to Hope's Creek?'

'Yeah. She said she wanted to find that fucker who killed all those girls and…'

'Hold on a second.' Dolph abruptly said. He opened his mouth to say something else but quickly closed it for a good three seconds while shaking his head in disbelief. 'I know what you're talking about, Kaitlyn. I remember him as well, even though I don't want to, believe that. But this is bullshit! Alfred Peters has been dead for years, why would she bother to come back? He's fucking dead! They said it on the news! They found him dangling from a rope in his goddamn kitchen! That fucking coward took the easy way out… I mean, Jesus Christ, they had found tons of child pornography in that house; if that didn't confirm that he was the Hope's Creek Killer, I don't know what else could have.'

'You're wrong about that.'

'Why?'

For a split moment, the two-toned woman considered showing him the found footage on AJ's camcorder in order to prove her following point, but she almost immediately ditched the idea since she refused to mentally scar the poor man by showing him the stomach-churning content near the end; doing so would make her feel like the biggest asshat in existence. 'Do you remember anything about the media mentioning the rabbit suit?'

It was quiet in the motel room for a couple seconds as the blonde bar owner dug through his memories, feverishly attempting to remember anything. His eyes were staring at the tips of his shoes the whole time. Kaitlyn looked at his face and the longer Dolph tried to recall anything about that damn suit, she saw the skin on his face growing paler and paler, until it seemed like the realization struck him at last. The blonde bar owner looked up and stared back at her. There had been a focused look in his eyes earlier, but now they expressed a mix of disbelief and shock.

'Son of a bitch…' he muttered. 'You've gotta be kidding me…'

The two-toned woman nodded. 'You know what that could mean, right?'

'He… He could still be out there. Alive…?'

'Exactly. That rabbit suit is the key. They never mentioned it, not once did they say anything about whether they had found it or not. And then there's another thing…' The two-toned woman paused for a moment to point at AJ's camcorder, which she had put on her nightstand after she finished viewing the footage she partially wished to forget. 'That right there belongs to AJ. When I arrived here, I found out that she happened to stay here. I snooped around her room and found this. I'm gonna be honest with here, Dolph… showing you what's on that damn thing is probably what's best for you. I don't wish for you to see what I've seen, it's too fucked up, believe me. But I'll tell you this… AJ had recorded herself while exploring Peters' house. She was there to look for the suit. She didn't find it, but, she did find whatever was left of his… collection. All of those photos were from little boys who couldn't be older than five. All of it. Dolph… just think about it. It were only girls that sicko was after. Girls who had just entered puberty…The murders had stopped when they found his body, so that's why the blame had been pinned on him all this time. '

Boom. This should've confirmed the possibility of that sick fuck still being out there.

Dolph suddenly stood up and began to slowly pace up and down while occasionally shaking his head, as if he was somehow trying to shake that horrifying realization out of his head. 'Oh come on, this is just too crazy.' he said. 'This can't be, it's impossible… I don't feel right about this. I don't feel right about this at all.'

'Same here, Dolph. This is absolutely insane.' Kaitlyn calmly replied. 'And that's why I came back to Hope's Creek. I have the feeling that he's the one behind all of this. Yes, Alfred Peters was a sick bastard, but he wasn't the killer. He was a scapegoat! For God's sake, AJ could be in trouble that we can't even possibly imagine. I have to help her before… before it's too late. I don't know why exactly she wants to find him, but I'm guessing it's for… revenge or something, I really don't know… But honestly, I wouldn't blame her. That bastard has ruined her life. I have to find out whe-'

Her sentence was abruptly cut off when unusually loud rustling in the bushes in front of the window caught her attention.

She immediately closed her mouth and listened, perking her ears. What the hell was that? It luckily looked like Kaitlyn wasn't the only one who had heard the noise. The two-toned woman saw Dolph's eyes glancing at the large window, which offered them a few on a thick row of bushes and Pinewood Motel's parking lot, which entirely consisted of countless pebbles. Simply glancing over her shoulder while sitting on the right side of the bed didn't give the two-toned woman the chance to get a good look at what was going on in those bushes. The both of them didn't say anything for a few seconds, their sight focused on the window. A faint hint of tension had begun to build up from the moment the rustling had interrupted this top-secret conversation, it was faint, but it was there. You could hear a pin drop in the motel room during those seconds. Nothing… The tension thankfully began to fade.

But just as Kaitlyn looked back at Dolph and opened her mouth for less than a centimeter in order to continue their conversation, the bushes rustled again. Much louder this time.

There was no way in hell this could've been the wind; it sounded like there was something was trying to get out of there… or rather… someone.

Oh fuck.

A mercilessly heavy chill immediately ran up Kaitlyn's spine. Her mouth instantly went dry. Without saying a word, she slowly stood up, as if she was trying to make as little sound as possible. Her eyes were once more focused on the bushes outside. She had to know. Who the hell was hiding in there? That was the only question that went through her head right now. Was it someone from the bar? Had someone been eavesdropping on them after all? Oh goddamn it, she should've kept her voice more down… Kaitlyn didn't notice this, but she clenched her hands into loose fists every now and then while she walked towards the window.

'Kait…' Dolph said, but she didn't react to her voice. He too began to feel uneasy, big time. Only something as large as a human being would be able to create that much noise… As the two-toned woman stood in front of the window, the blonde bar owner took a few steps closer to her, so that in case something were to happen, she would at least be in arm's reach to yank her away in time.

Kaitlyn practically held her breath while she slowly scanned the bush with her eyes from left to right, trying her best to catch a glimpse of whoever was hiding the-

A large flurry of blackness clouded her entire view while a feathery wing brushed against the glass. A shrill caw was heard through the thickness of the window. Kaitlyn jerked away from the window and took a step back, her eyes wide with surprise and this close to loudly gasping. Another caw followed as the crow flew away from the bushes and gliding a few centimeters above the pebbles of the parking lot before taking off to the blue summer sky and fly out of her sight. A bird… thank God, it was goddamn bird. It took a moment to let this fully sink into her. The two-toned woman briefly closed her eyes and let out a trembling sigh of relief. Getting spooked by a crow… in any other situation, she may have laughed about this.

'Are you alright?' Dolph asked; even though his voice sounded calm, this had slightly startled him as well.

Kaitlyn nodded and swallowed in an attempt to moisten her mouth. 'Y-Yeah, thanks…'

A brief moment of silence passed before something touching the two-toned woman's left shoulder caught her attention, thankfully not startling her at all. It was a good touch; warm, slightly firm, yet comforting. Glancing at her shoulder, it was indeed what she had been expecting; it was Dolph's hand. Until now, she had no idea how much she had actually needed something like this. A comforting, strong, reassuring hand on her shoulder. She let out a deep sigh, feeling her heart rate slow down.

'You don't have to do this alone, you know.' Dolph said, meaning every word he said. 'If that fucker really is out there and has something to do with AJ's disappearance, then I will help you, Kait. I have never forgotten about what he has done to her and I won't ever forgive him for that. I want to help you as much as I can. But you have to promise me one thing…'

'And that is?'

'Please, for the love of God… try to be careful.'


	14. One Of The Boys

**Chapter 14**

 **One Of The Boys**

If Dolph Ziggler had entered the bar's office five seconds later, he surely would've missed that one phone call that had been made on that late Friday evening in 1980; he was a month away from turning 19 years old, still stuck between being a boy and man.

It had nearly been impossible to hear that thing ringing over the numerous loud conversations that were being exchanged between the dozens of customers that had decided to visit Ziggler's to celebrate the beginning of a new, well-earned weekend by chugging away their favorite alcoholic drinks, talk and joke around with a couple of buddies; just generally having a good time. It had only been a matter of minutes before the stale smell of cigarettes, a smell that Dolph practically had grown up with, almost entirely filled up the whole bar after the first handful of costumers had entered. The first glasses of beers were ordered, followed by more and more as the next guests followed, along with a couple of glasses of whiskey, gin, scotch, tequila and a cocktail here and then for some of the very few women attending tonight, who were either with a date or a group of friends. And as usual, it was up to Dolph to help out his father with keeping the customers satisfied… that one chore he hated the most. The blonde boy felt that same frustration on each night he had to help at Ziggler's. While he could be out there to enjoy what was left of his years as a teenager, he was stuck here, often barely able to breathe through the thick, disgusting cigarette smoke that at times would make his eyes feel dry and stingy, on the verge of throwing up whenever he had to clean up the vomit of a guest who had a bit too much to drink and didn't quite make it to the bathroom in time, listen to his father lecturing about the fact that money didn't grow in the family's fridge whenever he dropped a glass by accident. But what sucked most about working in his old man's bar had to be when a costumer could no longer control himself because of the alcohol. (Of course there had been some cases of drunks who had been female, but it was mostly the men who usually became beyond wasted) There had been a couple times where he had managed to duck away from glasses, half-full bowls of peanuts and one time, even a bar stool, that were thrown at him, just because he was doing what his father told him to say when a costumer had become too drunk: refuse another drink and telling him to go home. It weren't only physical objects that would be flung at his head at times: it wasn't a rare occasion when a drunken guest wouldn't back away from verbally abusing him as well. They'd hurl words that they probably would all forget about by the next morning.

Oh yeah, working in his father's bar definitely was something that Dolph had wanted… that's what he got for choosing not to go to a college after he graduated from high school, something he now deeply regretted. As soon as he had enough money to get a place for his own, he would get the hell out of here and never look back; the blonde boy refused to stay longer if this was unnecessary. He'd figure out which job to take to earn his money along the way, as long as it was far away from Ziggler's. The blonde boy knew that Brian Kendrick, his closest friend, had the same idea as well, except that he did know what he wanted as an occupation; becoming a world-famous rock star. Yeah, good luck on that, buddy. It's wasn't like Brian lacked the talent to make hundreds of fans flock to sold-out arenas to go absolutely nuts on his music, oh no; it was always cool to listen him play on his electric guitar, which he had been gifted to him by his mother a couple years ago, when he had turned 15 years old. It's just that you had to be insanely lucky if you wanted to make it big in the music industry. Dolph hoped for Brian that he would become one of those lucky bastards.

Was there at least one good thing about his father's bar? Yes, there actually was, if he had to be entirely honest; the jukebox near the pool table contained some rocking tunes from the 70's that were quite enjoyable.

As most of the times, Ziggler's was packed with customers, but the blonde boy knew that there was something lingering in the air this time… and he could easily guess what it was.

It had been the talk of the town since three days, for a damn good reason.

The sudden, violent, gruesome murder of the young Alicia Fox had shaken up the usually quiet town of Hope's Creek to its very core. Dolph could hardly believe it himself when he heard about this. A murder? Here? In Hope's Creek? Bullshit, he thought at first. Nothing ever happened here, so this chilling news surprised and mostly unsettled him at the same time, just like all the residents of this town. He couldn't remember any other crimes that had taken place before this happened, no matter how hard he tried. Well, there was this one thing, but it wouldn't really count as a crime. Funny enough, the 'crime' had been committed by him. When he was five years old, his mother had taken him with her to buy groceries and he couldn't resist the temptation to snatch an apple-flavored lollipop and put it in his pocket while his mother was paying more attention to the difference between the prizes of two different brands of peanut butter than to him. Mary Ziggler's wasn't easily fooled though, as she remembered not buying a lollipop for her son after she had paid for her groceries and saw him happily sucking on it outside the stores. Clearly, a toddler stealing a lollipop from the local grocery store wasn't big enough to make headlines in the news papers; the only punishment Dolph got that day was a big scolding and that was it.

'Local Girl's Mutilated Body Found Near River' was printed in large, thick letters on the front of the news paper that was lying on the family's dining table a day after Alicia's body had been discovered; there was no way Dolph couldn't have seen that news paper when he entered the kitchen that morning. It sure as hell did fully wake him up. Reading through the article made his skin turn cold, all thanks to the gruesome details. Apparently she had been found by two young boys who just happened to be playing at the river on that day, after they were unfortunate enough to find her severed left arm. Those poor kids had to be permanently mentally scarred by now, the blonde boy had thought to himself. It was also reported that Alicia had been reported missing by her parents the day before she was found dead because she had failed to return home after she had visited a friend. So whoever did this must've snatched her up while she had been walking home… The mental image of the defenseless girl being dragged into a rust-stained van with darkly tinted windows before she even got the chance to fight back against her attacker, who covered her mouth with a gloved hand to muffle her desperate screams for help, almost immediately sent a chill up Dolph's spine.

Fucking hell… this was so sick. So damn sick.

Three days after the brutal murder of the young girl, people had been coming up with their own theories of who the killer could be and why she had been killed. The blonde boy's have heard them all at Ziggler's. Some of the theories seemed pretty logical, but some of them were a little too far-fetched, if you'd ask Dolph. He could agree on the killer possibly being an escaped lunatic from a nearby asylum (he assumed that if the cops were smart enough, they'd check all the asylums and other mental institutions in the area around Hope's Creek), but the idea Alicia Fox being kidnapped to be the sacrifice in some satanic cult… even though this did sound like something straight out of a horror novel or movie, Dolph knew that this wasn't entirely impossible. The world nowadays was so strange and terrifying these days, there would definitely be people around who would have no problems with doing something so grisly. You truly had to be one sick fucker to pull off this kind of shit.

Did AJ perhaps know her? He had no idea, he could ask her next time the group would get together to hang out. Speaking of which, it reminded him that he was finally able to hang out with his friends tomorrow, like a normal boy in his late teens should do, although he wasn't too keen on AJ Lee showing up.

Before the call could be missed, the blonde teen picked up the phone. 'Hello, this is Ziggler's, how can I help?' he asked.

'Hey Dolph…' a soft voice that he recognized within a second replied to him. It was her. But why was she calling at this hour of the night? The blonde teen wouldn't be surprised if she somehow had ended up neck-deep in a heap of trouble and needed to get her troubles off her chest. That wouldn't be surprising. At all.

'Oh, hi AJ.' Dolph replied, briefly looking over his shoulder to check if his father had heard him. If he had, he would most definitely tell him to get off the phone and get his ass back behind the bar. But luckily his old man seemed to be too occupied with handing over a couple shots of vodka to a group of middle-aged men with scruffy beards and trucker caps. 'What's the matter? Is everything alright?'

'Yeah yeah, everything's fine, really!' the girl answered on the other side of the line. I just wanted to tell you something real quick…'

'Well, what is it? I don't mean to be rude, but you really do have to make it quick, I have to help my dad. The place is packed tonight. I'm not in the mood for getting yelled it if he finds out I'm talking on the phone during work, you know how it goes.'

'I know that, jeez Dolph. Look, I want to tell you that tomorrow I'm taking a friend with me to hang out with you guys. Is that okay with you? It should be no problem, right? She's a really nice kid, I think you-'

'Are you sure that would be a good idea?' Dolph interrupted her. 'Because I don't think you going out at night would be the safest idea at the moment.'

A few seconds of silence followed. 'What do you mean by that?' AJ's voice had grown slightly softer, as if those words had hurt her to some degree. 'Don't you… want me to hang out with you guys anymore?'

'That's not what I'm saying.' the blonde teen sighed, slightly shaking his head. 'I mean… AJ, think about it for a second. Whoever killed Alicia Fox is still on the loose, and as far as I know, nobody has been caught yet. That psycho could still be in Hope's Creek for all that matters. What if something would happen to you? It wouldn't be safe for you, or for your friend. Don't take this the wrong way, but I really think you should stay indoors for now until they catch that guy. You can always come chill with us another time.'

'I'm not scared, Dolph! I can still come! Have you seen all the cops swarming the streets lately? They're, like, literally everywhere! Don't you think that makes it safer for me to go out?'

Just when he wanted to point out to her how painfully oblivious she was about the sheer seriousness of the current situation, he realized she just made one good point. She was right about that, the blonde teen thought. Everywhere you looked or went during the following three days after Alicia Fox's gruesome death, you could see police officers going up and down nearly every street you could find in Hope's Creek, their numbers were especially large in the town's center, where his friends had agreed to hang out. Dolph had seen it himself. He had seen them, alone or with a colleague, going in and out of stores, their brief visits most likely made in attempts to find witnesses who could give any leads to solving this bone-chilling case. He had seen a handful of their cars slowly driving around, he had seen some of them going through garbage cans and bags in the alleyways, clearly for the afore-mentioned reason. Would the killer still risk coming out of whatever dark, foul-smelling, repulsive hole he hid himself in and search for his next victim despite the large number of police officers? If he had grown cocky, then yes. But if he was smart, then no. It was difficult to assume the right answer. It was risky, so damn risky to go out at dark while there was a ruthless, dangerous murderer who had taken a sick pleasure in carving up a young girl like a pig in a butcher house. As long as AJ would take a route where there will be a cop on every corner…

'Are you planning on heading straight to the center?' Dolph asked.

'Duh, of course I am.'

'Okay, that's good. You two stick together, alright? Try to take a route where there are a lot of police officers. No detours, no going through dark alleyways or any of that shit, you come straight to the cinema's parking lot. And I will be the one bringing you home, I will do the same for your friend, because I'm not letting you-'

'Yeah yeah, I got it!' AJ replied, her voice sounding surprisingly cheerful. 'It's gonna be fine Dolph, don't worry about it! I will see you tomorrow night then! Good luck with being your dad's slave! Bye!'

Click. Gone, just like that, before he could have the chance to wish her goodbye on his part. The blonde teen sighed and shook his head. How could a girl be so reckless and naïve? Part of her age, he guessed. When you're thirteen years old, it was so easy to feel like nothing and nobody could ever harm you. Now that he thought about it… this was actually the very first time she insisted of bringing a friend along. Did AJ Lee really make a new friend?

It surprised him, in a good way.

Hopefully this friend could make her realize that the way she was living at this moment wasn't getting her anywhere.

* * *

'AJ, are you really sure this is a good idea? What if that psycho is still out there? They still haven't- eek!' Kaitlyn tried so hard to keep up with her friend that she didn't look where she was going, almost tripping over her own feet as they quickly walked towards the town's center. Luckily she regained her footing before it almost looked like she was going to make a nasty tumble. It nearly seemed like the excited AJ didn't even notice this, as she continued to pull her friend's arm, dragging her along with her and forcing her to keep up the pace. It was a Saturday night and even though the sky was dark and decorated with a star here and there (more of them were surely bound to appear as the hours would go by) and the only source of light were that of the many street lights down the street, the temperature was actually quite pleasant. Not cold, but not too warm either; it was perfect for two young, lively girls like AJ Lee and Kaitlyn Bonin to go out and make new memories.

It may have looked so peaceful and innocent… but Kaitlyn felt everything but at ease, and for a good reason.

'It will be fine!' AJ replied without even looking over her shoulder. 'I already told you, it won't be that far! Plus there are cops everywhere, remember? Seriously, look around you. Look, there's already a cop car over there, on the corner, see what I mean? And you're going to be okay when you're around my friends, those guys are absolutely cool. Trust me, I know them! They're really great guys! I can't wait to introduce them to you!'

By know, Kaitlyn had managed to keep up with her friend and got a good view on her face; each time AJ had mentioned her friends while talking, she could clearly see a twinkle appearing in the corners of her eyes, again and again. She looked absolutely elated, like a child who was going to see Santa at the mall. It was like she was completely oblivious to the horror and fear that had swept through Hope's Creek from the day Alicia Fox's body had been discovered; and it was the same horror and fear that refused to leave, having set its countless, razor-sharp, needle-thin teeth in the community. Kaitlyn felt it, she felt every bit of it. Just like everyone else (with the exception of AJ and possibly the group of guys who were either brave or dumb enough to go out while the investigation was still going on), she feared for when this ruthless maniac would strike again. It was almost too insane to believe it. A murder in her peaceful, quiet hometown… stuff like this only happened in horror stories, and yet it had happened in real life. And Alicia, oh God… she didn't deserve to die in such a horrible way, she never did. Sure, she was someone that Kaitlyn would possibly never really befriend due to Alicia tending to be so overly dramatic, but it didn't mean that she was an awful person. The large, black-and-white photo of the forensics team which consisted of men and women wearing white overalls that covered their entire bodies and rubber gloves, scavenging the crime scene that was taped off with yellow police tape in an attempt to search for any evidence, that was printed on the front paper of the local news paper along with the ominous headliner 'Local Girl's Mutilated Body Found Near River' didn't fail to send chills up her spine.

'Didn't you know this girl, Kaity?' her father, like the sensible man he was, had asked her when he handed her over that news paper that morning. Kaitlyn had to read the horrific article three times before she could fully wrap her mind around it, almost unable to believe what she was reading.

Dear God… Alicia…

When she arrived at school and entered the main hall, a nearly surrealistic atmosphere hit her like a crumbling brick wall. She was far from the only person who had heard about the unbelievable, shocking news. Students, some alone or in groups, took a moment to walk to Alicia's locker, where a memorial had been created for the murdered girl. A photo of hers was attached to the small, metal door of her locker. It was a class photo and Kaitlyn remembered this year's picture day so well; Alicia had been asking her friends if her make-up and hair looked good enough so many times that it slowly began to drive Kaitlyn nuts. The smile she had on her face was so big and bright, it was almost like she wasn't posing for a school picture but for a well-known fashion magazine. Little did Alicia know on that same day what awful fate was awaiting her… Short, thick, wax candles had been lit and put on the ground, creating a warm light that reflected on the red lockers. Numerous cards in pink, green, blue, red and yellow with texts that expressed the mourning of the fellow students were put there as well, along with a flower here and there, some of them bound together in thin bouquets. But what broke Kaitlyn's heart the most was seeing four girls, who she knew were Alicia's friends, standing closely together in a circle and embracing each other in an attempt to somehow find comfort and console each other. Tears rolled down their faces, all of them loudly sobbing, their grief too immense for them to care about the short-lived glances they got from other students. Kaitlyn couldn't blame them. Later on that day, all students were gathered in the school's gym, where they silently listened to the principle, Mr. McMahon, who tried his best to ease the shock and grief that had nestled deep inside them by encouraging them to stand strong in a time like this and informing that police were already working on the case, so hopefully whoever was responsible for the gruesome death of Alicia would be arrested soon enough.

AJ wasn't anywhere to been seen at school during the day, which didn't surprise Kaitlyn at all, but she did wonder if she knew about what had happened.

That Friday night, after another day of being surrounded by all possible theories traded between fellow students about who committed the grisly crime and the reason of why the poor girl's life had to end like this, a call was made to the Bonin residence. It was Kaitlyn who picked it up, all while wondering who would call at this time, since it had been three hours after a dinner where the tension between her father and mother was yet again so intense that it left the girl with no appetite whatsoever. It was AJ. Thank goodness, hearing her voice on that moment did help to make her feel better. She didn't expect at all that her friend would invite her to meet some of her other friends, it surprised her in two ways. For one, it seemed like AJ wasn't frightened about going out at night while a ruthless killer was still on the loose, and for two, she had always thought that AJ didn't have any other friends before she befriended her. From the moment the news of the murder had spread through the community of Hope's Creek like a wildfire, her parents had made it perfectly clear to her that she was forbidden to go anywhere, be it to the supermarket or to Liv's place, after school, until the murderer had been caught. But just on that moment, when Kaitlyn was about to decline the offer and explain her why, then accusation the girl's mother made to her father about flirting with the same, blonde, voluptuous secretary at his work, caused the tension to finally explode and erupt into a full-blown shouting match between the two. Kaitlyn was forced to cover the phone in an attempt to muffle the fight that was going on in the kitchen. Hearing AJ's voice did work to make her feel better, but her parents had yet again managed to make her feel miserable again. She quickly told her friend that she would think about going with her and hung up before she was able to hear her parents fighting. The next morning, the atmosphere in the house hadn't turned pleasant in the slightest, but her parents tried to cover this up by telling Kaitlyn they would go out for a fancy dinner in Bangor, thus leaving their own daughter alone for tonight. She could heat up a pizza in the oven if she wanted. It made her wonder: did they sincerely try to patch things up between them? But then, as she was about to mentally prepare herself for a lonely night, she suddenly realized in a sudden whim of adolescent rebellion that she didn't have to be alone… in fact… this was actually perfect. As soon as she had some privacy on her own, Kaitlyn had called back AJ to tell her that she would be coming with her tonight; everything was better than staying home all alone, fearing for being witness to yet another fight from the moment her parents would come home. As long as she would come back before her parents would, everything would be fine. That night, not long after her parents had taken off, AJ arrived at her place and the two took off.

But now that it was actually happening, Kaitlyn began to wonder whether this rebellious action against her parents had been such a good idea after all. She had the uncomfortable feeling that whoever was responsible for the gruesome death of Alicia Fox would jump out at any second, ready to drag them into the darkness and end their lives in the blink of an eye. But thankfully AJ had kept her word about sticking to a route where a lot of police would be present. On nearly every block, from Kaitlyn's neighborhood to the center, there was a police car on the corner. This helped to make her feel safer, much to her own relief.

About a bit more than ten minutes later, the girls arrived in the center of Hope's Creek, thankfully without hitch. AJ had told Kaitlyn that they would meet up at the parking lot of the local cinema. Alright, at least it was a location where there would be a lot of people, so that was fine in Kaitlyn's book. Soon enough, she could see the cinema's parking lot in the distance, constructed on the left of the massive, brick-shaped, peach-colored building with a flat, red roof, where some people had already lined up to buy a ticket to whichever movie they wished to see, an effective way of getting their mind off the fear that kept this town in its iron grip. (How many people would go see a movie based on a real life, horrific murder in a quiet, all-American town located in Maine?) None of them seemed to be paying any attention to a large group that had gathered on the parking lot. Occasional puffs of cigarette smoke ascended into the summer sky before being blown away by a breeze and as Kaitlyn and AJ got closer and closer, they heard laughter now and then coming from the group. AJ looked so excited that she didn't even bother to check for oncoming traffic before crossing the street; hadn't her friend grabbed her by the sleeve of her t-shirt, she would've been run over by a car that passed them by with considerably high speed.

Now that she saw the group from up close after they crossed the street, Kaitlyn was slightly startled. Holy crap…there were a lot more of them than she thought. She counted roughly twenty-five guys and two girls, all of them ranging from the ages of sixteen to nineteen. She automatically assumed the two girls in the group were the girlfriends of two guys, judging by the fact that one boy had his arm wrapped around his girl's waist while he lit up a cigarette for a friend who had the thing sticking out of his tightly closed mouth, while the other couple had distanced themselves a bit from their friends to make out while leaning against a car. ('Get a freaking room, you two!' one of the guys shouted at them, but Kaitlyn couldn't figure out who it was) Kaitlyn noticed that there were maybe seven faces she could recognize (mostly because this was a small town, so you were bound to seeing the same people on the street now and then), but the rest must've been from other towns near Hope's Creek. The young girl couldn't help but wonder how the hell AJ had managed to befriend these young teens who were definitely in their sophomore and senior years at high school; there was no way they could've met at their middle school. This left her mildly confused, but she was soon snapped out of her thoughts when AJ let out an excited shriek.

'Hey guys!' she exclaimed cheerfully as she approached them. They all looked up and Kaitlyn saw their mouths curling into smiles before they greeted the girl back.

'AJ!' a handful of them said. 'How's everything going?'

The young girl immediately let her new friend now how comfortable she was feeling around these guys. As soon as she got close enough to one of the boys, a seventeen-year old, red-haired fellow who had managed to get rid of most zits on his forehead during the past couple of days, a short, albeit big hug. He replied by briefly patting her on the back, almost seemingly a bit uncomfortable with this sign of endearment from the way younger girl. AJ let go of him and quickly proceeded to do the same thing to boy who stood closest to her. One by one, all the guys got a hug from AJ, some of them hugging her back, others giving her a pat on her shoulder or back, and only four of them not responding to her hugs at all. AJ didn't have any problems with hugging the two boys who had brought their girlfriends along; Kaitlyn saw the look on the faces of the girls as she wrapped her arms around the waists of the boys, it wasn't really jealousy, but they still looked quite surprised by what they saw. Kaitlyn just simply watched, a bit sheepishly, not sure about how she should feel about this.

One boy in particular got something extra from AJ. It was an eighteen-year old boy with blonde hair, wearing a black, denim jacket, a pair of jeans, black sneakers and a black t-shirt with the logo of some rock band Kaitlyn didn't know printed on it. He was having a conversation with a boy who looked like he was around the same age as him, his straight brown hair grown close to his shoulders. He was wearing a faded dark grey tank top, a pair of jeans of which a hole was visible on the left leg and a pair of black boots. A thin, golden necklace was the cherry on top of the bad boy cake. Their unknown conversation was abruptly interrupted when the both of them looked up, hearing a familiar voice calling out the blonde boy's name.

'Oh my gosh, Dolph!' AJ exclaimed as it was finally his turn. 'It's been so long! Hope your dad has been treating you right!' She then proceeded to hug him, just like she did with the others, earning a smile from the guy, though it was a bit of an awkward smile. Standing on her tippy-toes, she had reached up high enough to plant a little kiss on his jaw line. Kaitlyn could clearly see the boy's smile slightly shrinking while a light blush formed on his cheeks. Was it a blush of embarrassment? It was hard to tell at first, but seeing the way he took one step away from AJ as soon as she let go of him, Kaitlyn guessed that the kiss did indeed embarrass him a bit.

'Good to see you too, AJ!' he said. 'How is everything going?'

'Oh you know, I've been doing my usual stuff lately.' the brunette girl replied nonchalantly. 'Ran away from home again because of my mom, got into a fight with some stupid bimbo at school, decided to forgo school for the rest of my life… you know, the usual stuff, nothing too special. But something cool did happen during this week, actually!'

'And what would that be?'

AJ gestured to Kaitlyn, her eyes twinkling with excitement as she did so. 'I made a new friend! This is Kaitlyn! Kait, Kait, come here!'

Almost immediately, she felt the gazes of the other guys on her. Oh no, why did she suddenly have to make her the center of attention for a bunch of strangers? Even though she did feel a bit uncomfortable because of this, but she didn't want to look like a stick in the mud during her first impression on everyone. Curling her mouth into an awkward but small smile, she walked towards the blonde teen. Thanks to the faint light of one of the few lampposts that were installed at the parking lot, she got a good sight on the color of his eyes as she got closer to him, which were a very cool shade of blue, nearly grey even. Kaitlyn had to admit, it did fit well with his blonde hair. Now standing in front of him, the girl decided to do the polite thing and reached out with her hand, ready to shake his.

'Hi Dolph, nice to meet you!' she said. Dolph's hand found hers while she spoke, shaking it with a firm, but warm grip.

'Same here.' he replied. 'So you must be AJ's new friend!'

'Yup, we've been befriended since… well, we officially became friends during this very week, actually! We have been in the same class during this year, but we only became friends until recently.'

Dolph smiled and slightly nodded. 'That's great!'

'So I guess you're part of the group now!' the brunette boy suddenly said. He and Kaitlyn exchanged a brief handshake. 'The name is Brian. How's it going?'

'Hello, Brian.' Kaitlyn politely replied. 'I'm okay, it's just that… well, I've never done this before, I have never gone out at night, ever. And all these new people that I've never met before… it's crazy!'

'You can be yourself around us, okay?' Dolph said reassuringly before chuckling. 'We're all a bunch of nutjobs, you don't have to be shy. I have to say though, you have to be pretty brave to come here while that psycho is still on the loose…'

For a split moment, the young girl was considering to tell him that the only reason why she went out was because she couldn't stand being alone at home to nervously anticipate another senseless, heated fight between her parents as soon as they'd step through the front door, but decided during that same moment not to say it; because after all, she had only known this boy for less than five minutes. It was still too personal to share it. Instead, she nodded.

'It's so scary to think that he's still out there… I knew Alicia from school. We weren't close at all, I didn't know her that super well, but damn… it's so awful what happened to her.'

Dolph nodded in agreement. 'You have to be one sick fuck to do this kind of shit to a girl.' he said. 'I hope they will catch whoever did it as quick as possible. I bet they will. And you don't have to be afraid of that fucker, because you'll be safe with us.'

'Damn right about that.' Brian agreed. 'No psycho who is ever gonna lay a finger on you. Same goes for you, pipsqueak! You don't have to be scared either.' While a broad smile appeared on his face, he patted on AJ on the head like she was some sort of precious pet, but the girl was completely fine with this, grinning from ear to ear and closing her eyes for two seconds in delight.

It was Kaitlyn who decided to change the eerie subject into something more pleasant. 'How come I have never seen you around here?' she asked Dolph. 'I have been living here for years and this is the first time I have ever seen you. Are you from another town?'

'No, I'm not, I've been born and raised here.' he replied, speaking nothing but the truth. 'I work at my dad's bar. You know Ziggler's? He owns that place.'

'And what do you do there?'

'Oh you know, I clean, I pour drinks… I occasionally throw out a wasted customer now and then, you know, just the regular stuff you do at a bar.'

Though this wasn't really meant as a joke, it still managed to make Kaitlyn laugh. 'Oh dear, I hope it isn't too rough for you!'

'It's not my dream job, but I can handle it. I'm used to it by now. And believe me, kicking out drunks isn't even the worst part of it all…'

'What is it then?'

Her curiosity was so befitting for a girl from her age, but Dolph decided to be merciful and not gross her out that cleaning up chunky, foul-smelling vomit that hadn't ended up inside the toilet at the men's bathroom was far worse than having to shove a resistant shit-faced costumer through the door with all his strength.

'Oh believe me, you don't want to know!' he chuckled. 'You really don't want to know!'

Just then, the first cold breeze of that summer night had arrived in Hope's Creek, rolling across the cinema's parking lot and brushing against the bodies of all the teens, signaling the cold that was about to settle in for the night. It felt like the cold you would feel on an autumn day, it felt that chilly. And most of the teens had clearly assumed the night would've stayed warm, because Kaitlyn noticed that they weren't wearing jackets or coats. Immediately after that one breeze, another followed, far more cold this time. That's when a few complaints about the temperature began to arise from the large group, one of them coming from AJ. Goosebumps appeared on the teens' naked arms, including those of Kailtyn's, despite the fact that she was wearing a thin jacket at the moment.

Brian was clearly one of the teens who thought it was too cold.

'Guys!' he suddenly called out, making everyone turn their heads to look at him. 'What do you all say if we go to my place for tonight? My mom's working the night shift, it will be okay! And yes… there's beer in the fridge!'

That last part must've easily convinced everybody, because all the teens excitedly cheered in union. It obviously looked like that plan was settled. Even though Kaitlyn had no interest in the alcohol that had been promised, she had to agree with Brian; she was not in the mood of getting the flu before school was out for the summer. Then, due to the realization, some nervousness began to creep up in the pits of her stomach. They were all going to the home of some boy she had only got to know now… oh no, what if it was outside Hope's Creek? Would she make it home in time before her parents would find out? The thought of their razor-sharp glares piercing right through her soul as soon as she set foot inside the home only made the nervousness worse.

'You and AJ can catch a ride with me if you want.' Dolph said. He probably had seen the slight worry on Kaitlyn's face, because he immediately said this afterwards. 'Brian's home is on the other side of town. We will be there in five minutes or something. It's gonna be fine, don't worry about it. I'm pretty sure you will have an awesome time with us!'

* * *

Within in a matter of less than half an hour, chaos had fully ensued in Brian's home; chaos you'd expect when you have nearly thirty teenagers inside a small house with fresh beer in the family's fridge and a brand-new radio that was capable of playing cassettes.

Dolph had told the truth about the location of the house. Not only that, but also about how long it would've taken to get there. While they followed the other cars ahead of them (which were like five or six of them, all belonging to the members of the group and offering everyone the opportunity to ride along to the location) it had taken a little less than five minutes to arrive in the neighborhood on the other side of Hope's Creek. It was a neighborhood that Kaitlyn knew, since most of her classmates lived on that part. It was a middle-class area, though the house they parked in front of seemed smaller in comparison to the other houses they had passed by. When Kaitlyn looked at it, she thought at first about the houses in the neighborhood where AJ was unfortunate enough to grow up in, but she quickly realized that comparing these houses was wrong. Despite the fact that Brian's house was small, it was very well taken care of. Not one speck of filth could be spotted on the white paint on the walls, the front lawn looked like it had been mowed recently, the daffodils that were planted in the planters that were attached to the windowsills looked lively and even the small, round bushes on the sides of the path that lead to the front door had been well taken care of, not one branch was sticking out. Kaitlyn immediately speculated that Brian's mother was a very neat person.

One by one, while talking and often laughing about how 'crazy this shit was going to be', the group of teenagers entered through the doorway after all the cars had been parked in the street, nearly taking up all the empty spots. While walking towards the house, Kaitlyn stayed close to AJ, who looked just as excited as everyone else was. She probably felt like her friend was staring at her, because she turned her head to face Kaitlyn and winked at her with a big smile on her face.

'This is gonna be great!' she exclaimed, letting a soft chuckle afterwards. 'I wonder if one of the guys has cigarettes… it's about time I try one. You want me to fetch one for you?'

Kaitlyn awkwardly chuckled and shook her head. 'Uh, no thanks AJ, I'm good.'

Her friend shrugged at the response. 'Alright, if you say so… But if you change your mind, you can still ask me!'

She was pretty sure she wasn't going to, no offense to AJ.

The inside of Brian's house looked just as well taken care of like the outside. Even then, Kaitlyn could tell that his mother thought hygiene was a top priority. She must have had cleaned recently, because when she and the other teens walked through the hallway, she swore she could smell the faint scent of cleaning solution coming from somewhere. It was likely that she had mopped the wooden floor with this stuff. But for how much longer would it continue to smell like oranges until clouds of cigarette smoke would mask it? Probably not too long, she thought.

The living room, which was predictably small but looked pretty cozy otherwise, was soon filled up with teenagers who were in the mood for partying the night away with some beer, snacks, loud music, all whilst making new, crazy memories to share with their children or grandchildren once their youthful years would be far behind them… and hide said memories from their parents for a good long time, most likely. At first it wasn't too rowdy. While loud chatter began to fill the living room, members of the group plopped down on the two long, brown, leather couches, Kaitlyn and AJ being two of those lucky teens. Those who didn't get to the couch in time were standing around on various spots in the living room (some teens were sitting down on the floor, their backs leaning against the wall while making sure nobody would trip over their legs), while others already headed to the kitchen or remained in the hallway. Just as predicted, nobody had forgotten about Brian's promise of beer in the fridge, because as soon as the first teenagers had entered the recently cleaned kitchen where a dining table with two chairs only took up the most space in the far left corner, the apple-green fridge was opened to reveal two bottles of milk, ham, five eggs, a mix of various vegetables, butter, bottles of soda, orange juice and of course, three six-packs of beer. (Seeing the amount of beer made poor Brian realize that a trip to the nearby liquor store would eventually have to be made during the night. Multiple trips, possibly.) In a quick pace, the fridge was plundered and drops of foam hit the ground when some of the beer cans were opened. Some teenagers were apparently not in the mood for alcohol just yet; they could be seen with glasses of orange juice, cola or water in their hands while they talked with each other.

AJ had briefly gone to the kitchen to get a glass of water for Kaitlyn and a glass of orange juice for herself. Appearing in the doorway when she walked back to Kaitlyn, her friend noticed how she looked at those who were standing around with a beer can in their hand. She had a bit of a curious look in her eyes, as if she was wondering how that beer would taste like. This combined with her curiosity for smoking she had mentioned earlier made Kaitlyn wonder if tonight was going to be the night where she was going to try these things for the very first time. She had none of these interests. Never had she thought of how it was like to drink a beer or take a lung-full drag on a cigarette and she was pretty certain that she would never get these interests. These things killed your health and she wished to live a little bit longer. Why would AJ be so curious about alcohol and smoking? Kaitlyn just didn't understand this. Looking around her, sitting between these teenagers who she had never met before, made her feel like she had ended up in a whole different world. So this is what older kids this at this hour. While she, the role model of a daughter all parents could wish for, sat in her bedroom to try her best on finishing her homework for the next day while trying to block out the arguing that ensued downstairs by turning on her radio, this world was happening outside. This living room was brewing with life and Kaitlyn knew that this memory was going to stick with her. This would have never happened if she hadn't befriended AJ Lee… This felt so strange, but it was something new.

Something different.

'So this is what you do each night?' she asked AJ when her friend sat down next to her and handed over her drink.

She shook her head after she had immediately taken a sip of her orange juice. 'No, not every night. Only now and then. It's not like I see them every night, you know. We usually hang around on the parking lot of the cinema. We rarely go hang out at each others' homes. I guess we were lucky that Brian's mom is working the night shift tonight, or else he would've never offered us to come here. But hey, it's nice for a change! At least it's warmer… and Dolph's here.' She gestured to the blonde guy, who was standing in the doorway that lead to the hallway and burst into laughing at that very moment because of something one of his friends told him; Kaitlyn could see a little twinkle in the right corner of AJ's right eye. 'He doesn't hang out a lot with us anymore because his father makes him work at that bar of his, really, the last time I saw him was… like, a month ago or something? I don't know, either way, it has been way too long. I do talk on the phone with him sometimes, but it's more fun when he's here, in person, do you know what I mean? It makes it feel like he's less far away from me… he's such a cool guy.'

And while AJ took another sip of her drink, her eyes were still set on the blonde teenager who just a few feet away from her.

It was only when Kaitlyn's glass of water half-full when the aforementioned chaos that was bound to happen broke loose at last. Brian had decided to make the party livelier (and let's not forget, louder) by turning on the radio at full blast after he had come back from a quick trip to the liquor store with even more beer, which would surely keep his friends around for longer. Rock music was blasted throughout the entire house, even from the kitchen and the hallway you could still hear the lyrics the lead singer sang at the top of his lungs. It appeared that most of the teens were into this type of music, because some of them were singing along while other nodded their heads and tapped their feet on the floor to the rhythm of the song. And clearly the music helped to spice things up, because when Kaitlyn had gone to the kitchen for another glass of water, she saw the couple who she had seen making out earlier at the parking lot; the girl was sitting on the kitchen counter, the way she and her boyfriend were kissing made the younger girl think they were about to tear each other's clothes off and do the thing her fellow classmates often joked about during lunch break. They didn't acknowledge Kaitlyn's presence or that of the others in the slightest. Her cheeks bright red with embarrassment; she quickly filled her glass and left.

By this time, AJ had pretty much left her on her own to talk to the other boys. At first Kaitlyn hadn't minded it that much since she thought she should be able to talk with her other friends as well, but after standing alone in a corner for a while, taking occasional sips of her drink while awkwardly staring at what was going on around her, she noticed that she was wishing for her friend to come back. She didn't know any of these teenagers, she had no ideas what interests they had besides partying and rock music and the fear of starting conversations with strangers about a subject they had no interest in whatsoever lingered inside her. Dolph was an exception, but only because they had talked for about five minutes or so when they first met, and he was already talking to another small group of boys. She suddenly felt so out of place here, like she was an intruder to a party she wasn't invited to.

Then, she caught a glimpse of AJ, who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen… with an unlit cigarette stuck between her lips. A chubby-looking boy wearing a baseball cap and who looked like he was around sixteen years old held a lighter near the tip of the cigarette; the tiny flame instantly lit it up. AJ's cheeks hollowed as she took her very first drag. Immediately, her eyes were tearing up and she burst into a huge coughing fit, earning laughter from two boys and a girl who just happened to be standing around her at the moment. This only lasted for a few seconds. After catching her breath, AJ took another drag, less heavy this time. Though Kaitlyn could clearly see on her face that it was still everything but pleasant, she handled it way better this time. Smoke escaped past the young girl's lips, ascending towards the ceiling before disappearing into thin air. There. Now she knew.

After another half an hour, maybe even longer than that, the chaos was finally complete when Brian entered the living room with a black, electric guitar in his hands; a friend of his followed, carrying a cable and a guitar amplifier with a purple sticker of the peace sign on the side. The rock star wannabe had to move aside a couple of beer cans, glasses and bowls of chips and peanuts in order to create more space on the liquid-stained coffee table between the couches to temporarily put his guitar on before walking to the radio and abruptly switching it off. Silence instantly followed, causing an eruption of surprised mumbling from his friends, all questioning who the hell shut the music off.

'Alright then, guys…' Brian said out loud while casually plugging in the amplifier in an outlet near the TV; Kaitlyn strongly wondered how much this guy had been drinking. 'Who's in for a private concert? Because you know, when I'll become a rock star, y'all can say that you had been attending a concert from Brian Kendrick before he got famous!'

The crowd of lightly tipsy teenagers burst into a cheering fit for the up-and-coming rock star, including AJ and Dolph even, but not Kaitlyn, who kept staring at him while wondering if this goal of his was a spur of the moment dream caused by a considerable amount of alcohol or was genuine. Either way, the encouragement of his friends seemed to boost his confidence further, because he grinned from ear to ear while looking around him. He plugged a cable that was connected to the amplifier into his guitar. Then, like his rock star dream had already come true, he stood on the coffee table, knocking over whatever was in his way in the progress. One glass fell over the edge and shattered into various sizes of pieces as soon as it touched the floor, but the sound was largely drowned out by the loud cheering.

That's when Brian noticed Kaitlyn standing in the corner and gestured her to join the group; seeing those piercing blue-grey eyes staring right at nearly made the blood in her body rush to her head in surprise.

'Hey, don't you stand there alone, girl!' the teen called out. 'It's time to be alive! Get over here! I may let you be my background singer!'

The young girl chuckled, hoping that he was just kidding. Just then, one voice she recognized so well, managed to convince her to join the rest. 'Come on Kaitlyn!' AJ called out. 'Come on, come here!'

Now with all eyes aimed at her, she had no other choice than to walk to the whole group of friends, who had gathered around the coffee table, to avoid looking like a total stick in the mud. She stood close to AJ, who was standing even closer to Dolph. Now all the attention was shifted back to Brian, who clearly enjoyed every second of it, soaking it all in while grinning like a proud idiot.

Despite the fact that he had most definitely had a couple of drinks during this night, the music Brian created with his trusted guitar sounded actually very enjoyable, really good even, like alcohol only increased his skills. Kaitlyn watched as his fingers smoothly moved over the guitar's neck, hitting every right note each time. She couldn't really recognize the song from any band she listened to, so she assumed that it could've been that Brian had written it himself. And she had to say… he definitely had talent. And when he began to sing, she also admitted that he had a great voice for singing as well. Even though she was still young and thus had not a full idea about how the music industry worked, Kaitlyn hoped that it would give Brian a chance, because the talent was there. Some of the teenagers began to slightly jump up and down, others clapped their hands rhythmically, then some others cheered Brian on and the rest did all of these at the same time. Kaitlyn was one of the people who were clapping their hands, genuinely enjoying the music and having a great time. AJ on the other hand was one of those who cheered Brian on, pausing for a moment to wrap her arms around Dolph's waist and jumped to give him a quick kiss on his cheek. Her friend saw it from the corner of her left eye; as soon as the blonde teen felt her lips on his face, he took a hold of them and gently pried them off his waist. He didn't say anything to her, but he there was this hint of annoyance that could be read on his face. Only for a few seconds, AJ silently stared at him, almost like she was hurt… but then, like nothing happened, she went back to cheering on Brian. Dolph didn't do anything; he just watched with his hands tucked in the pockets of his jeans.

During the time Kaitlyn attended the private concert, she hadn't been promoted to background singer of the rising star, much to her relief. However, after listening to his music for a good half hour or so, she felt a mean headache creeping up. She tried to ignore at first, but it soon grew worse; she knew it was likely due to the combination of the loud music, the cheering, clapping and the stale smoke of cigarettes. What she needed right now was some fresh air, lots of it. The girl turned around and headed towards the hallway, maneuvering through the crowd of teenagers to get there, practically squeezing herself through it. Luckily the hallway was empty, making it way easier for her to walk.

Immediately after she opened the front door, the cold air of a summer night welcomed her with open arms. Eagerly, Kaitlyn breathed it in. Just like she hoped to, the fresh breeze helped to push away the nasty headache for a good chunk; there was still some lingering pain on her left temple, but it felt relieving nonetheless. The cigarette smoke, beer and Brian's rock star career disappeared on the background, muffled down by the calmness that only a night in the summer of 1980 could create. It felt like she was cleansing out her lungs after sitting in the smoke for what felt like hours to her, she could actually taste the staleness on the back of her tongue because of it. Maybe she could wash it away with some water when she would go back inside. Kaitlyn looked up at the sky, noticing that countless stars had formed while she had been inside experiencing how the social life of an older teen was like. Like any other starry sky she had witnessed throughout her entire life, it was absolutely beautiful.

The young girl sat down on the wooden, short flight of stairs of the front porch. She was all by herself, but she completely okay with it. Thankfully the muffled noises back inside the house did barely anything to disturb the peace and rest she felt right now. Kaitlyn continued to look up at the night sky, barely bothered by a frisky breeze that rolled through the street. Somewhere in the distance, crickets had begun to play their own song, contributing to the already wonderful peacefulness. Just perfect. Kaitlyn leaned the back of her head in her neck and breathed in deeply once more, closing her eyes for a moment. Yes… this was just what she needed.

'Is everything alright?'

The voice made Kaitlyn open her eyes and look over her shoulder to see who it was. Standing behind her was Dolph, with his hands still in his pockets.

'Did you feel sick or something back there?' he asked. 'Or are you tired?'

'Uh, no… it's okay!' Kaitlyn replied, shaking her head. 'I just needed some fresh air. I got a bit of headache, I needed to go outside for a bit.'

'Alright, I just wanted to know if you were alright. I bet all that smoke and noise must've gotten to you. I have that too sometimes when I work in the bar. But a bit of fresh air always seems to help.'

The girl softly chuckled. 'Yeah, same here.'

'And do you feel better now?'

'Yeah, thanks. I will go back inside in a minute, but for now... I think I'm gonna look at the stars a bit more.'

'Really?' Dolph looked up at the sky for a few seconds. 'Huh… I can see why you want to be outside for a bit longer. That looks amazing!'

There was a spot left next to Kaitlyn, thankfully there was enough space for the blonde teen to sit down and join her to stare at the countless stars in the sky, which almost looked like tiny diamonds, they shone so beautifully. On that moment, the young girl learned something new about Dolph; even though he was a boy who enjoyed having a big crowd of friends around him and party like there was no tomorrow, he still was the kind of person who could just stop for a moment to enjoy the smallest things that made life so good… like a starry sky on a summer night, for example. A wonderful trait, if you'd ask Kaitlyn. They both didn't say anything for a moment. She turned her head to look at Dolph, whose mouth had curled into a small smile while he continued to stare at the night sky. It was just the two of them, with the rest of the group inside where Brian continued to entertain his friends like his life depended on it. For some reason, Dolph Ziggler's looks reminded her of those of an actor; if he truly did possess some fine acting skills, Hollywood would definitely be embracing him with open arms.

'Dolph, can I ask you something?' Kaitlyn suddenly asked.

'Yeah, of course.' the blonde teen replied, glancing at her.

'I've been wondering… how exactly did you get to know AJ? How long have you been friends? I'm pretty sure you didn't meet at school, did you? I'm really curious about this, actually.'

Dolph chuckled and shook his head. 'No, you're right about that.' he said. 'We have been hanging around together since… a couple months ago, I think it was in March. Yeah, it had to be March, because I, Brian and a couple other guys went to a football game in Bangor on that day. We went to the supermarket to grab some drinks when we came home after the game. We were just about to go inside and out of nowhere, she walked to us, no hesitation whatsoever, like she has known us for years. She asked if one of us could give her three dollars so that she could buy a smoothie and a sandwich. I think she was assuming that we didn't believe that she had any money with her, because she immediately pulled out the insides of her pockets to prove her point. So I gave her three bucks, she went inside the store and a couple minutes later she came out with a smoothie and a sandwich. She came back to us and we talked for a while, and again, she talked to us like we all had been friends for years. Hell, she even sat down to eat with us. And that's how it pretty much happened. Ever since then, AJ has been a part of our group and she'll always be there when we get the chance to meet up. She's a really spunky kid for her age, but... there are times where I can't help but worry about her.'

'Why?'

'I already found it weird that a thirteen-year old girl went out in the dead of the night to grab some food for herself, that's where it already started. Sometime later, I learned more about her. From what she told me, her mother apparently couldn't give less than two shits about where she is or what she's doing, because the heroin is way more important to her. Once she shoots up some heroin in her arm, things can get pretty ugly. I have seen AJ's bruises, Kaitlyn. And I'm pretty sure you have one or two as well, haven't you?'

Kaitlyn nodded. So she wasn't the only one who knew…

'I'm convinced that her life at home is what messed her up so much in the first place. No father, an addicted mother… I can imagine how someone would feel if their life looked like that. And lately she had been telling me about never going back to school again. It's like she has completely given up on life. She shouldn't be doing this! She's thirteen years old, she still has a whole life ahead of her. I wish I could do more for her, but it's like she completely fine with all of this. I can't remember how many times she has told me how much she hated her mother, but she always keeps returning home. Maybe somewhere inside she still loves her, or it's simply because she has no other family to turn to. But you know… I think things will get better for her now.'

'What do you mean by that?'

'I mean… she has you for a friend, doesn't she?' And while Dolph's lips curled into a small smile, Kaitlyn saw how straight and white his teeth were; yup, definitely Hollywood actor material right here. 'You are from around her age and if I have to be honest, you don't look like a troublemaker at all to me. So I hope you can be a better influence on her than we have.'

The young girl couldn't help but briefly laugh at the thought of her being a troublemaker. 'Yep, I am a different kind of person, that's true. Heck, I avoid causing trouble, all the time. But I too want to be there for AJ. I have seen how they treated her at school, there was nobody who stood up for her when Carmella Van Dale and her friends bullied her.'

'Oh yeah, I think she has told me about her once. The popular girls always have to be the meanest, huh?'

'You could say that again.'

'AJ has told me about what happened in the school cafeteria that day. What you did was amazing, Kaitlyn, I really mean that. She's lucky to have you as a friend.'

Blood rushed to Kaitlyn's cheeks in the blink of an eye while she smiled from ear to ear. At first she had no idea what to say to this, because wow, what a compliment that was... it turned her shy, really.

'Well… AJ's lucky with you as well. She seems to be very comfortable around you, she must trust you a lot.' she said. Maybe a bit too comfortable at times, though; she remembered the unease on Dolph's face whenever her friend planted an unwanted kiss on his cheek. 'But she looks like she gets along well with the other boys as well!'

'Oh yeah, she does, with all of them. Speaking of them… how do you like Brian's music? Do you think he has any chance on making it big?'

'I think he does, yeah. He's not bad at all, if I have to be honest. My God, is he still playing? How much energy does that guy have?'

'Tons of it, believe me!' Dolph let out a sigh. 'Even if he can be a loudmouth and a show-off at times, it makes me happy to see him like this. That guy has to be my closest friend. I have known him ever since I was fourteen years old and around the time I got to know him, he, uh… he used to be quite a different person. Nothing like you saw back inside, in the slightest. Because before I met him, his twin sis-'

The blonde boy's words were abruptly cut off when an unknown car suddenly stopped right in front of the house, the tires screeching with a high pitch as the driver furiously stomped on the brakes. Both he and Kaitlyn looked up in surprise. What the hell? Kaitlyn didn't recognize the vehicle as one of those that belonged to some members the group. Immediately after the car had come to a halt, the door on the driver's side swung open with the same fury that was used for the brakes. The driver turned out to be a woman in her mid-forties with short, curly, dark brown hair and wearing a light blue nurse uniform. Her white high heels rapidly clacked onto the asphalt as she quickly hurried around her car, heading straight to the house.

'Oh damn…' was the only thing that Dolph mumbled. And Kaitlyn could see exactly why; now that she got a closer look at the woman, it was perfectly clear that she was absolutely, undoubtedly, without any doubt, fucking pissed.

As the woman got closer and closer to the front porch, the young girl could almost swear that her green eyes were burning with the fire of Hell itself, she looked that angry. It even scared her a bit. The enraged nurse was only a meter away from the stairs when both Kaitlyn and Dolph realized that they should move out of her way before her fury would be aimed at her. They stood up as fast as they could, getting out of her way as she was just about to walk up the short flight of stairs. She didn't acknowledge them at all when she passed them by, her mind only set on what was going on inside the house, where everyone was still cheering on Brian for one more song.

'Who is she?' Kaitlyn practically whispered.

'That's Brian's mom…' Dolph replied, his voice just as soft as hers. 'Fuck… Why did she come home earlier?'

It was an easy guess that all hell was going to break loose from the moment Susan Kendrick had set foot inside the home. Just a meter or two behind her were Dolph and Kaitlyn, who both couldn't help but see what was going to happen, like spectators of an impending car crash. Making sure there was enough distance between them and her, they snuck back inside, into the hallway and heading straight into the living room. They had arrived just in time.

'Shut up! Everyone, sit down and shut the hell up!' Brian's infuriated mother screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice so loud that it towered over all other noises inside the living room, including that of Brian's guitar. Almost like the shocking news of someone passing away had reached the group, everyone fell silent and turned their heads to Susan Kendrick, their eyes widened with shock and surprise. Brian, who was still standing on the coffee table, was possibly even more shocked than everyone else was.

'Mom!' he exclaimed. 'What are you doing here?! You weren't suppo-'

'The neighbors called me, Brian!' his mother shouted at him. 'You were so goddamn loud that they called me, complaining about the noise! Who has been smoking in here?! Oh my God, look at this mess! The coffee table! You've ruined the coffee table, Brian! Those stain marks will never get out! Get the hell off there! And who the hell are all of these people?!'

'It's okay mom, they're my friends!' Brian said when his feet touched the floor.

'I don't give a flying fuck if they are your friends! I don't want my house, for which I pay all the fucking bills for, to be a clubhouse for all the damn kids in town! I want them out! All of you! Get out of here! And I swear to God, if one of you has broken something…!'

'But mom…'

'No, Brian! I don't want to hear anything from you! I can't believe I had to get out of work for this! Goddamn it, Brian! Get them out of here! Now!'

The brunette teen rolled his eyes and let out a loud sigh, knowing that there's was no way to get the party back on track either way. 'Alright… Sorry guys, the party is over!' he said out loud.

While protesting mumbling emerged from the group, Susan Kendrick decided to make it perfectly clear for one last time. 'Out! All of you! Get out!' she shouted once more.

And just like that, the party had Brian Kendrick's house was officially ended… but despite the abrupt ending, there were still some guys who found it pretty humorous, because as the teens headed to the front door one by one, laughter and chuckling escaped past the lips of some while they talked about how much trouble Brian was going to be in. It was only then when AJ was reunited with Kaitlyn; while they walked through the hallway, she could definitely tell that her friend had been smoking more cigarettes while she had been outside, since her breath reeked of smoke when she laughed about how crazy that was.

Kaitlyn could swear that the neighbors collectively sighed in relief when all the teens had gone outside. 'See you later!', 'Let's do that again!' and 'You're driving?' were mostly said as the group parted. Their cars drove off, through the street and out of Kaitlyn's sight. Of course, it was Dolph who offered her and AJ to drive them home. There was a bit of doubt on AJ's face when the blonde teen did this, like she was considering whether it would be a good idea to go back home to the woman she loathed so much at times… but then she nodded, accepting Dolph's offer.

Kaitlyn was the first one to be dropped off at her house; much to her relief, her parents' hadn't been parked in the driveway just yet. There was still time left to get inside undetected, thank goodness about that.

'Thanks for that, Dolph!' she said after opening the door. 'I really had a great time! Hopefully Brian will be alright…'

'I'm sure he will be.' the blonde teen calmly answered. 'This isn't the first time his mom got pissed as a newt at him, you know. Don't worry, he'll live.'

'Remember saying that when tomorrow the cops will discover his body buried in the garden!' AJ said with a grin on her face. She had put her feet against the dashboard, and even though her voice sounded like she still had plenty of energy left while cracking that sinister joke, she almost immediately let out a yawn after saying this; she covered her mouth with the back of her hand as she did so. 'I'll see you around, Kait!'

'You can come hang out with us as much as you want, just so you know.' Dolph said.

'I bet I definitely will.' Kaitlyn replied. 'Bye!'

She slammed the door shut and off they went, heading towards that one side of town where only the neighbors there would know if AJ's mother was already sound asleep or busy shooting up another dosage into one of the many veins she had used. Looking left and right, the young girl wanted to make sure that her parents weren't driving into the street just yet. Thankfully, she was all on her own for now. She hurried towards her house, the key to the front door already clenched between her thumb, index finger and middle finger.

Five minutes later, when she was laying in her bed while thinking about when the next time would be where she would see Dolph again, her parents came home.


	15. Someone Knows

**Chapter 15**

 **Someone Knows**

Normally Kaitlyn would've had her lunch already around this time… but hell, what had been normal these days? Nothing, absolutely nothing, simple as that. An appetite for a healthy meal that fit perfectly in the diet of any fitness model seemed like a distant memory, even though an appetite for a breakfast had been there in the morning when she had taken a seat in that diner, but still, this too felt like it had happened ages ago, like staying in this motel room had somehow sped up time in the world around her. Dolph had offered her to go to the local diner with her to have lunch with him before he would go back to his bar, but the two-toned woman had kindly declined this offer, saying that she wasn't hungry at all, which was nothing but the absolute truth. Now that she was thinking back about this, she dearly hoped that she hadn't taken away her childhood friend's appetite because of all the things she had told him; it nearly made her feel guilty. The blonde bar owner had sighed, clearly giving in. He had told her that he had to go back to Ziggler's, but didn't leave before giving her the phone number of his business, in case she wanted to call him if she had any news or wanted help; he also said that if he noticed something that could possibly be linked to whatever had happened to AJ, he would contact her immediately. She would also always be welcome to drop by. Then, after he wished her good luck, he left. Kaitlyn was alone again; only then, she noticed how crushing this sudden loneliness was. But then again, this wasn't the case, because Dolph was there for her.

Just like he was seventeen years ago… how little he had changed. He was still the same Dolph Ziggler she had known during that one summer, thank goodness.

While everyone else who lived in Hope's Creek was able to carry on with their lives (though not without a care in the world of course), Kaitlyn Bonin had holed herself up in a motel room of a motel of which the amount of visitors would only peak during the summer vacation, attempting to figure out where the hell AJ could be all while trying her best to stay calm. At this moment, the back of her head felt like dozens of incredibly thin needles were poking through her skull, she had been this tense. She was sitting on the edge of her bed with her friend's camcorder in her hands, often rotating the device, completely lost in her own thoughts. Her stomach had tied itself into a knot earlier when the idea of looking through the camcorder to see if AJ had recorded something else besides the harrowing tour through the abandoned house, because God knows what else she would find on that thing; what else could possibly be more stomach-churning than what she had seen at the end of the first recording? The two-toned woman couldn't imagine this. But the possibility of finding another clue was there and the only way to find out about this is to go through the camcorder one more time. If that would get her any closer to AJ, then it would be worth another mental scarring. With the knot that was her stomach pulling itself tighter, Kaitlyn had turned on the device once more and pressed the buttons, but other than the only recording, there was nothing else to be found. Was it strange that she found this somehow relieving? At the same time, it also frustrated her; so far, this was the only clue she had. And thus the two-toned woman silently sat there for what felt like countless hours (even though by now it had been less than an hour), trying to put together whichever pieces of this nightmarish puzzle she had gathered so far; she knew that a lot of pieces had to be missing.

Kaitlyn let out a sigh and lied down, staring at the grayish ceiling, which clearly must've been pure white around the time this motel was build, with her hands resting on her stomach. She couldn't help but shake off the feeling it was definitely that rabbit suit wearing bastard that was responsible for all the horrors that had happened in the summer of 1980 who was behind all of this. That's why all the possibilities were pointed at him. Where was he? What had he done to AJ? And one other question that was just as important as the other two… who was he? Out of all questions, this one had to be the most terrifying. It couldn't have been Alfred Peters, Kaitlyn was convinced about that; after all, he had a different preference, but said preference didn't make him any less of a sick bastard. The absence of the rabbit costume confirmed Kaitlyn's belief. But then who had he been all this time? Despite the blanket under her body was quite warm, it didn't do anything to lessen the chill that traveled up the two-toned woman's spine. It could've been anyone. It could've been literally any fully-grown man who lived in Hope's Creek during her childhood, or at least someone from around that area. Right on that moment, Kaitlyn knew that for the time that she would stay here in Hope's Creek she couldn't trust anyone else, besides Dolph… and this terrified her even more. She knew she had to be wary as hell, more than she initially planned to be when she came here. God, just to think that she literally couldn't trust any person besides from her childhood friend gave her the fear of going insane with paranoia by the time she would find AJ (one way or another… but Kaitlyn refused to believe the absolute worst, because that thought alone made her eyes water) and leave Hope's Creek together with her. No way in hell would she allow her to continue her search on her own. Not after what was happening right now. If she wanted to find that sick fucker so badly, then she would go with she had to find her of course, but where the hell was AJ Lee?

Somewhere in the hallway, a few meters to the left, a shrill noise indicated that a door was being opened, followed by muffled footsteps and a deep, calm voice that clearly belonged to a man saying something that Kaitlyn couldn't understand a word from, mostly because she was barely paying any attention to her surroundings at this point, she was so caught up in her own thoughts. Another voice, this one belonging to a woman, replied to whatever her male companion was saying; unfortunately, it wasn't AJ's voice. A soft click was heard, most likely the door that fell into its lock. The pair took off, their footsteps trailing off until the two-toned woman couldn't hear them anymore. If her brain could naturally produce an audible noise, it would be low whirring, accompanied by occasionally screeching, like a large motor that was installed in the very core of some heavy-duty industrial machine, because it was spinning at full speed, so much that it caused a slight pain in her head.

As of now, all her thoughts were focused on that rabbit costume-wearing psychopath; she was convinced that he was the one behind all of this, finishing what he had started nearly two decades ago. It only made sense, didn't it? He never got to fulfill what he wanted to do with her… and that frustration must've been eating him up inside during all that time. As if ruining her back then already hadn't been enough for him. That sick, selfish bastard, good fucking God…

But what if it wasn't him? Kaitlyn herself found this hard to believe. Come on, it had to be him, there was no other possibility, right? Why else wouldn't AJ let her hear anything from her? Unless she was in the middle of nowhere, only then this could've also been the case…

Wait.

Hold the fuck up.

The two-toned woman's tired eyes had been closed for a little while, but as if she was bitten by something with rows of knives as teeth, she opened them as wide as possible while she sat up with a jolt. The realization seemed like it cut off her breath, because a loud gasp escaped past her parted lips.

Oh my God… that was it!

If there was one location in Hope's Creek that one could possibly describe as the middle of nowhere, it would be the lush, seemingly endless woods that surrounded a small area of the town, the one where Kaitlyn's childhood home was located; it were also these same woods you had to drive through if you wanted to get here. Unless you were getting close to the town, there was still this miles-long stretch of road that cut right through the otherwise untouched nature that you had to follow. Kaitlyn would always remember those woods as the only location where she could find solace whenever she was yet again unwillingly caught in another heated, unbearable fight between her parents. Wandering through said woods always put her mind at ease, letting her troubles take a backseat as she allowed to soak in the tranquility of the nature around her, but she remembered something in those woods that gave her that extra sense of safety… something that AJ had kept secret until she trusted her enough to show it to her.

It was none other than her hideout.

It was almost like that make-shift hut was a second home to her friend; the two-toned woman was convinced that she most likely spend more time over there than she did in her actual home, but hell, who would blame her? With a mother like Roberta Lee, she too would much rather sleep in a tiny hut in the dark but gorgeous nature all by herself. To AJ, that hut was everything; it was the only place she could go to whenever trouble at home boiled over like scalding hot water inside a closed pan. And it was safe to say that yet again, she had found herself in trouble… possibly the biggest ever. So what if she had gone there? It would make sense in some way, since she had always done this. Kaitlyn wasn't entirely sure of it, but it the possibility of her friend feeling much more comfortable in her childhood hideout than in some cheap motel room was huge, without a doubt. And it was this possibility that made the ember inside Kaitlyn that represented her hope of finding AJ alive and well quickly turned into a flame.

She knew exactly what to do.

The two-toned woman immediately stood up, but her head instantly felt light as grayish spots clouded her vision due to how instantly she had gotten off the bed. She took a deep breath, taking one little moment to pull herself together. This worked; in a few seconds, the inside of her head and her sight both went back to normal. Her boots were placed close to the window. She quickly grabbed them and put them on as fast as she could, possibly just as fast like during the rainy night when she had to escape from Bobby. Her fingers trembled as she tied the laces together, even though she was trying her best to control her breathing. Kaitlyn remembered feeling like she was going to absolutely lose it if she had to drive one more time in her car after all those hours of driving, but her hope easily convinced her to get the fuck over this and hop into that vehicle if she wanted to find her friend. She snatched her car key that was lying on the nightstand next to her bed. Within seconds, she got out of the motel room.

Glancing to her left for less than two seconds, Kaitlyn noticed that Ms. Ferguson had left the desk, possibly because she had gone out for lunch, but the two-toned woman didn't have any time to wonder about any other possibilities. As soon as she stepped outside, the coolness she had felt inside the Pinewood Motel disappeared, letting the merciless summer heat crash onto her once more, so sudden that it almost felt like she had been sticking her body into an oven that had been left on for half an hour. She wasn't going to let the temperatures get to her, not for a moment. The two-toned woman quickly walked towards her car, opened it and got inside. Like many unlucky people during the summer days, the leather seat on the driver's side had become so warm due to being exposed to the sun for hours that it immediately made her feel like the skin of her leg was set on fire upon contact. Kaitlyn hissed through her teeth, but thankfully the pain only lasted for a second or three. She fastened her seat belt and turned on the engine. Crunching pebbles was all she heard when she put the car in reverse before making a turn and exiting the parking lot. In her haste, the two-toned woman forgot to check the traffic coming from the right; just as she was about to enter the road's right lane, a dark red jeep rushed past her while emitting a deep, long honk, causing her to immediately stomp on the brake. Three inches away from getting into a car wreck, fuck! Blood rushed towards Kaitlyn's head as her heart skipped a beat. She saw the reddened, round, bearded face of the driver flashing by during that brief moment, soundlessly mouthing some foul insult (Kaitlyn could easily guess that it was the word for a female dog) before he drove off. Now back on the road, the two-toned woman sighed and rapidly blinked her eyes.

'Calm the hell down, Kait…' she mumbled to herself, her mouth and throat dry and sticky. 'You can't have an accident now, you gotta find AJ first, okay?'

It was either this or the fact that she nearly got herself into a possibly fatal crash, but she did instantly calm down; some slow, deep, repeated breaths through her nose helped wonderfully with this. Now more dedicated to pay more attention to the traffic around her for the sake of finding AJ without one single hospital stay, she continued to drive through the town's center. Her hands, which were clenched around the steering wheel, felt moist due to the sun shining right on them, but not for one moment did the two-toned woman think about brushing them off on her black tank top. Her knuckles had turned white and she didn't notice it at all. While she drove through the center that she knew like the back of her hand despite nearly two decades of absence, Kaitlyn often took a few seconds to break her concentration on the road to look at the sidewalks, hoping to catch a glimpse, no matter how small it would be, of her childhood friend. It was perhaps a bit too hopeful, because each time she turned around a corner, she expected her to be there, either exiting a building or just simply walking there, chomping away on one of those delicious doughnuts they had shared so many times or sipping on her favorite smoothie. Would Kaitlyn instantly stomp on the brake if she would see her? Damn right, and she would rush to AJ and cling onto her like she was a buoy and she was the unfortunate soul on the verge of drowning. For one second, one uplifting second, she could almost swear that she saw her; a girl with long, dark brown hair was walking on the right sidewalk, tightly holding onto a leash that was the only thing that kept her overly energetic, yapping Rottweiler pup from jumping up against any passerby's leg. Kaitlyn's heart was up in her throat when she glanced to her right to take a better look at the girl. Her small bit of sudden hope was instantly dashed; while her hair looked similar, her face looked nothing like AJ's. Blue eyes, a slightly crooked nasal bridge and a comma-shaped beauty mark near her right eye. Damn it… the disappointment struck the two-toned woman hard, but she knew there was still another possibility.

It was a possibility that could very well be the answer to this nightmarish mystery.

* * *

One block away from the house in where she had spend a fairly large chunk of her childhood, the two-toned woman decided to park the vehicle at the corner, fearing that if she did park in front of her old home, she would be met with the suspicious glares of the current owners and possibly that of the neighbors that would pierce through the windows, that is, if someone happened to be home at the moment. Better safe than sorry, she guessed. But maybe the neighbors would give her a break if they'd recognize her as the Bonin girl who moved away with her mother not long after the horrifying events that plagued Hope's Creek. Would it be likely that it were still the same neighbors living there after seventeen years? If Kaitlyn had to be honest, knocking on their doors to check this out wasn't exactly on her mind right now.

She shut off her car's engine and stepped out, closing the driver's door behind her. It was like as soon as the door fell into its lock, the memories came flooding back. Kaitlyn looked around her, almost finding it hard to actually believe it. She was back in her neighborhood, after all these years. Everything had practically remained the same, as if time had stood still in this part of town when she and her mother left. The thought of her unknowingly haven taken the time along with her, stuffed in one of her suitcases in the back of the car, was truly absurd, but the two-toned woman somehow felt like this was true. Did time start flowing again now that she was back? It did catch up with her, in some way… Damn, she had to focus.

'Don't get too sentimental…' Kaitlyn mumbled when she walked around the corner, entering the street, like she had done many, many, many times before when she still lived here. It was almost like she was that young girl again, coming home from school, the shops, or Liv's place. She had seen all four seasons come and go while walking through this street. Her childhood home was a good forty meters away from her; it was possibly the biggest source of her nostalgia. Even though she didn't want to, Kaitlyn couldn't help but quickly glance at the house when she eventually walked past it. Thankfully nobody was looking back at her through any of the windows placed at the front of the house. Who would sleep in her old bedroom? Was it even being used? The thought of her bedroom, that one area in her home where she must've undoubtedly spent most of her time in, be it for making homework, reading comic books, or a vain solace when it came to blocking out her parents' ungodly fighting, being completely empty or used as a dusty room where the currently staying family stowed away all the junk they couldn't give a place, was quite heartbreaking to say the least. Maybe if it had turned into a bedroom for guests to sleep in, then it would still be fine with her.

Now this was going to be a bit risky. She had to walk between her old home and the neighboring house on the left, since this would lead her to the large clearing that was behind this row of houses. The reason why this was a bit of a risky move was because if she happened to pass by a window and someone just happened to be looking through said window, she would definitely catch some unwanted attention and hell, things could turn really awkward, real fast. As long as she was quick, she could be spared the awkwardness and possibly a call to the police. There were no parked cars at her childhood home or the neighbors' home, but still, you couldn't be too careful; someone could still be home, perhaps a kid who preferred to stay home to play on his Nintendo 64 than coming along with his parents to visit his grandparents. Kaitlyn decided to go for it. She walked between the driveway of her childhood home and the one of the neighbor, grass rustling underneath her boots, luckily not loud enough to draw any attention from inside the houses. Just like she had planned, she moved quickly, and for a split moment she felt like an intruder. An unwanted intruder in the neighborhood she grew up in… the two-toned woman managed to easily shrug off this uncomfortable feeling. While she quickly passed between the two houses, there was no feeling of being watched, something that was quite relieving. In a matter of seconds, she had made it past the houses, now looking over the clearing; even that place hadn't changed the slightest after she had left.

It felt like the clearing was welcoming her back with open arms, inviting her to cross over and enter the woods. And hopefully someone, somewhere in that gorgeous piece of untouched nature, would be waiting for Kaitlyn. Right on that moment, a large cloud rolled across the sky, right in front of the sun, taking away all the sunshine that was shining right upon the grass, followed by a frisky breeze. Kaitlyn took her first step. She began to walk in a calm pace across the clearing, heading straight to the woods on the other side, all while staring at the tree line in the hope of AJ deciding to emerge out of there at that exact moment. Man, how great would that be? Unfortunately, there was no such luck. The two-toned woman was all by herself. This was so surreal… so damn surreal. When she was a good five meters away from reaching the tree line, the sun peeked from behind the blocking cloud and bathed the clearing in pure, warm sunshine. She wasn't too far away from the closest nearby tree when she already heard the lively singing of the countless birds that inhabited the woods; it was one of those sounds that always reminded her of the summer months. Not once did she look behind her, completely convinced that she was all by herself.

It took Kaitlyn three more last steps to finally reach the tree line and enter the location of some of her most precious childhood memories.

For a split moment, the two-toned woman felt like she was somehow dreaming. Entering the clearing had already been too surreal to comprehend, but now that she was actually walking through the woods where she had spend so much time in from 1970 to 1980, she truly found this too surreal for words. But much to her surprise, it unfortunately turned out that this place hadn't been left untouched during the years of her absence. On some locations, trees had been cut down, their stumps and wood chips being the only things that were left of them. From this distance, Kaitlyn could see that some other trees had been marked with a large, deep orange cross, hastily sprayed onto the wood. It was easy to guess that these were the next ones to be chopped down sooner or later. But why? They looked pretty healthy if you had to ask Kaitlyn. No time to wonder about this, though; there were more important things going on in her head.

Besides the fact that some of the trees had been recently chopped down, thankfully nothing else had changed in the woods op Hope's Creek, not even the atmosphere that the nature around her was always capable of producing. It was that same delightful, peaceful atmosphere that the two-toned woman had always felt, it had helped her so many times to forget all the troubles that were going on at home. The sun shined through the leafs of the trees, coloring them bright green and contributing to the everlasting nostalgia this place held. This whole scenario felt like something straight out of some storybook full of fairytales. She was the young princess, returning to her kingdom after years of living abroad, because of her mother, the resentful queen. She would definitely be the kind of princess who would refuse to wear dresses, ride off with her horse into the sunset and enjoy practicing with a sword or bow with arrows, though. This thought made Kaitlyn briefly chuckle. But it did kind of feel like this. As a kid, the woods did feel like her own little kingdom, where she was free to climb into the trees as high as she could, throw pebbles into the river while standing on the bridge, use gun-shaped sticks as 'weapons', play hide and seek with AJ or Liv, swim in the river if the current wasn't too strong and lie on the ground to take a nap in the shadow of one of the many trees. It was absolutely fantastic; it was these woods that had shaped most of Kaitlyn's childhood and she was so thankful for it.

When she walked up the hill that would lead her to the bridge, the two-toned woman heard the splashing of water. She was going the right way, but she had been expecting this. After all, she still knew these woods like the back of her hand. She continued to walk up the hill with ease until she reached the top and was immediately greeted with possibly the most beautiful sight Hope's Creek had to offer. The river's current was extremely fast this day, much faster than she remembered, she couldn't remember it being like this. It could possibly be the result of the heavy rainfall that soaked the area last night, she guessed. While she crossed the bridge, which creaked each time she took a step, Kaitlyn took a moment to look at the mountains that were far ahead the river, completing the already beautiful landscape. Then she turned her head to look ahead of her once again, agreeing that she had stared enough. The other side of the bridge, which had luckily remained sturdy despite being exposed to the elements for many years, was reached after a couple more steps and from that moment on, Kaitlyn knew that her friend's hideout wasn't that far away anymore.

She didn't really notice it herself, but her walking pace quickened when she walked those last meters that she still had to walk as she headed deeper into the woods. It sounded crazy, she was aware of this, but the feeling that she was going to find AJ, perhaps slightly dazed but alive and in one piece nonetheless, in that hideout was strong, so strong and overwhelming that it could spill out of her mouth. Just like it had been with the clearing, this part of the woods had remained untouched; no chopped-down trees, no markings, nothing, it was just like she remembered it. Then, when the two-toned woman looked to her left, she realized that she had found the thick thicket, which had been acting as their protective wall for their secret fortress.

 _Casa La_ AJ (how could she possibly forget the nickname her friend gave that hut?) was just within her reach.

Without any hesitation whatsoever and her hope flaring up like a growing flame, Kaitlyn entered the thicket. She quickly noticed that it had grown thicker, thus forcing her to use a bit more strength when she push the rustling greenery apart in order to walk with more ease. A sharp twig made a small cut two and a half centimeters from her ankle, but it was that same hope that glowed inside the two-toned woman with the brightness of the sun itself that blocked out the few seconds of mild pain. Kaitlyn continued to push herself through the thicket. This was it, this had to be it! There could possibly be no other place where AJ could be! That cozy hut was her refuge for God knows how long before she and Kaitlyn had begun their friendship, no other place could make her feel safe! More hidden, sharp twigs cut in her legs, only one of them being painful enough to cause Kaitlyn to hiss through her teeth, but of course she wouldn't let this stop her either. Then she saw it, right there, in front of one of the many trees.

'AJ!' she loudly called out as she made the last few steps; if the volume of her voice didn't catch her attention, then she had no idea what else would've. 'AJ, it's me! Kaitlyn! Are you in there?'

There was no response, but those few seconds of silence didn't mute the two-toned woman's hope in the slightest. The rustling of the bushes around her abruptly ended when she finally managed to step out, with some tiny cuts on her bare legs and less than a handful of tiny, stray leaves hanging onto her shorts and tank top. Her heart was pounding so fast that she almost couldn't breathe properly.

'AJ?!' That's when she could take a good look inside. Her voice instantly turned softer. 'AJ…?'

Yes, their hideout was there, having miraculously survived seventeen years of wind, snow, rain, hail and sunshine. But that didn't mean it was in good shape, in the slightest. One glance at it and you could clearly tell that it had been abandoned for nearly two decades, all due to the permanent marks the elements of nature had left on the small hut. The main frame of the hideout was surprisingly still standing, but if you'd give the slightest kick to one of the thick, long branches, chances were that they'd immediately snap in half and cause the whole damn thing to collapse. The corrugated, metal sheet that had been used as the hut's roof didn't have one single spot of rust left on it, mostly due to the fact that the whole sheet was covered in a layer of moss, dried-up leaves and dead twigs; small, flowerless plants could be seen sprouting out of these layers, and chances were that they were going to grow much larger. The tarp was barely visible under the amount of earth that covered it for the most part. Still hoping to get a response, no matter in which form, Kaitlyn walked closer to the hideout, got on her hands and knees and took a peek. One glance was all it took to crush that last bit of hope, like a lit cigarette being stomped out underneath a boot.

AJ wasn't there.

Tears of frustration began to sting in the two-toned woman's eyes, but she managed to push them back by rapidly blinking. While the outside of the hut looked surprisingly still in good shape, the same couldn't exactly be said for the inside. There was no way the radio, which was splattered with specks of dirt, could still be working. The same went for the flashlight, of which the transparent front piece was split in half by a Y-shaped crack. The front covers of the magazines, some closed and some opened, had turned unrecognizable over the period of years, having colored in a filthy shade of green; it was guaranteed that you'd only be left with a wet piece of paper between your fingers if you'd try to pick one of them up. A disgusting, wet, squishy noise emerged from one of the fungus-covered blankets, a result of soaking up rain water for years, when Kaitlyn put her hand on it to support her weight. She quickly pulled back her hand when she saw this. Air had left the inflatable mattress probably three weeks after Kaitlyn's mother took her daughter with her and left Hope's Creek in the back mirror of the taxi. She absolutely refused to look inside the filthy sleeping bag, convinced that it was housing a whole nest of centipedes, worms, earwigs, cockroaches, woodlice or any other bug that instantly made her skin itch just by thinking about it. The stuffing of the dirt-stained pillows had grown chunky over the years. Not much was left of the stuffed animals that AJ had put inside the hideout for decoration either. The plush rabbit, which had once been soft pink in 1980, had turned so filthy that numerous rounds in the washing machine wouldn't wash away all the dirt that had nestled into its fabric, having colored in a mix of green, grey and brown, and its stuffing was sticking out of every single hole it had. The lion was probably even worse; it had become so dirty that Kaitlyn could see countless black bugs, as small as dots, crawling all over its mane. They were most likely lice… and it made a chill run up her spine in pure disgust.

There were no clues whatsoever of AJ staying here for the past days, only the filth, bugs and decay.

'Fuck!' the two-toned woman exclaimed, not able to hold in the frustration any longer. Goddamn it, she was so sure of this! She had to be here, she just had to be here! She couldn't have gone anywhere else! Along with the frustration came out the tears that she had held back earlier, plus the confirmation that something absolutely terrible must've happened to AJ. The tears rolled over her cheeks; it had been the first time Kaitlyn had been crying during this search. She had her hopes up way too high, and this was the result. She knew that, but still, she couldn't have helped it, she really thought AJ could've been here… The two-toned woman soundlessly sobbed, all by herself. She sat there, on her knees, for a good ten minutes which honestly felt like an eternity to her. Then, after she had spilled the last tear she had stored up, she took a deep sigh and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. The skin around her eyes felt warm, which always happened when she had been crying. Goodness, she couldn't remember the last time she had actually cried… but she wasn't in the mood of trying to remember. It was the harsh truth, but Kaitlyn accepted it; she had hit a dead end. She stood up and wiped the earth from her knees. What was her plan going to be now? The two-toned woman hadn't figured that out just yet, because only when that last bit of frustration would leave her head, she could think more clearly. For now, all she wanted was to go back to the car; hopefully her mind would be more at ease by then.

Kaitlyn turned around and walked back into the thicket.

The additional tiny cuts that were made on her legs (and one on the back of her wrist) before she stepped out of the bushes were the least of her worries. Aside from the warmness around her eyes, crying had always given her a headache as well, the only good medicine for this being some fresh air. And right now, she was practically surrounded by this, which did help her, for a bit. The two-toned woman didn't plan on going deeper into the woods, heading straight back to the bridge.

But as she continued to walk towards the bridge, it became clear to her that something felt… off.

Something was different, she could feel it in the pits of her stomach, and she was absolutely sure it wasn't because of earlier, as awful as that brief moment had been. She couldn't fight this feeling off, it was too powerful. It felt like the entire atmosphere that lingered in these woods had changed, she had never felt this before, not once during all her childhood years that she had spend here. It was completely silent… and that was exactly it. There was no sound whatsoever, as if all the birds in the woods had suddenly taken off. What the hell? This would only happen in the winter time, this didn't make any sense. It was summer… It truly did feel like nature was holding its breath for something. Kaitlyn couldn't exactly put a finger on why this was happening, but it sure as hell was unsettling. The two-toned woman saw the bridge ahead of her, a little less than 50 meters. As she got closer, not one bird in the woods still dared to make a sound.

A twig on Kaitlyn's right was snapped in half when a foot, covered in thick, brown, frayed plush, stepped on it with full weight; she never had been alone.

That sound was more than enough to catch her attention. As soon as she turned her head to the right and laid her eyes upon the source, her heart instantly dropped to her feet. Her eyes, which she could hardly believe, widened in pure horror. Her mouth was definitely wide enough to let out a terrified scream, but instead of that, all that she could do was loudly gasp. It now had become perfectly clear that not bothering to look behind her all this time had been the biggest mistake that she could have possibly made.

Mr. Buns.

The demon of her childhood.

He had kept his distance, like the predator he had always been. And now he had planned the right moment to strike. Emerging from behind a thick tree, it took him four large steps to get close enough to the two-toned woman, not saying one word. She saw him approaching her, looking exactly like she remembered him; as badly as she wanted to run like her life depended on it (which most definitely did), it felt like her feet had fused with the earth under her soles. That's when the stale smell of thick dust hit her, crashing onto her like a toppled brick wall, suffocating and impossible to ignore; as if the rabbit suit had been lying in some old, dusty attic or basement for nearly two decades. Once he was standing close enough to her, Mr. Buns reached out with both of his hands and before she had any chance to react, they had found her neck. The childhood destroyer wasted no time to squeeze Kaitlyn's throat shut as tight as he could. His hands felt like industrial pliers, completely covered in frayed, stale fabric. All oxygen to her brain was instantly cut off and she felt every second of it. Kaitlyn attempted to scream as loud as she could, but this was a wasted effort, since it was only a wavy, weak, short squeak that escaped from her mouth. She buried her fingernails into the hands and began to scratch, but no damage was inflicted due to the thick fabric; they wouldn't budge, not for a millimeter. 'Oh God oh Jesus fucking Christ he knew I was here he has found me he's gonna fucking kill me oh dear God'; this thought flashed through her oxygen-deprived mind with the speed of light. The soulless, cold, cartoony eyes of Mr. Buns burned their way into her soul, and the two-toned woman could swear to God that the eyes of whoever was wearing the mask were just as cold, perhaps psychotic even.

But if that monster thought that she was going to let him strangle her to death, he was so fucking wrong.

Her legs miraculously regained sensation, driven by this. Just before she could see the first black spots clouding her eyes, the two-toned woman kicked her attacker's right knee with all the strength she had, though not enough strength to shatter it, which would've been the best case scenario. A demonically deep grunt, impossible for human vocal cords to produce, could be heard from Mr. Buns as he let go of his victim's throat, which only confirmed in Kaitlyn's racing mind that he was truly a monster, stepped right out of a child's darkest nightmare; right then, she didn't think of the possibility of a voice box. All she could think of was to get the hell out of here. To get the fuck away from Mr. Buns while she still had the chance.

The air she breathed in burned in her throat, which felt like it was pulsating due to her rapid heartbeat, as she ran past her attacker. Her legs and arms were heavy, she was only able to move them due to the massive amount of adrenaline pumping through her veins. For one horrible moment the two-toned woman nearly tripped over her own feet, but she luckily managed to regain her balance before her hands could touch the earth. There was a strong urge to look behind her to see if he was behind her, though at the same time, she was too scared to do so, convinced that she would be staring right into those pacman-shaped pupils. Even if she wanted to scream for help, it wasn't possible; that bastard had squeezed her throat with so much force that breathing alone would burn. The bridge wasn't too far away now, just a few more meters to go…!

It soon became perfectly clear that her attacker's knee cap was still perfectly intact. A shriek that set her throat ablaze escaped from Kaitlyn's mouth as she felt one of his hands on her head, immediately clamping shut to grab a handful of her hair; had he tugged harder, than the chunk would've been surely ripped out. Kaitlyn was forced to stop dead in her tracks and before she could attempt to escape from his grip once more, Mr. Buns spun her around while still holding her hair and punched her on the side of her face, the impact so ruthless that it instantly knocked her to the ground. The trees, the bushes, even the earth were spinning in front of the two-toned woman's eyes, her right temple pulsating and hot, like she had been struck with a sledgehammer wrapped in stale plush. Bits of earth entered her nose and mouth as she was heavily breathing, her widened eyes quickly darting from left to right, all while struggling to not lose her consciousness. The two-toned woman was then roughly grabbed by her shoulder and turned onto her back. She saw Mr. Buns towering over her, a murderous giant, staring down at her, either in contempt, hatred or sadistic glee. He wasted no time getting on top of her, straddling her down by using all of his weight. That's when Kaitlyn saw his hands going for her throat again.

'No!' she screamed at the top of her lungs, ripping the insides of throat open. 'Get off! Get off! No! Get the fuck off me! No! No!' She succeeded in punching one of his hands away while swatting away the other. Her legs, which had been pinned between his, kicked in the air while she wiggled her body, clearly an attempt to shove him off. Now filled with the will to survive this and the hate she had held towards this sick bastard, Kaitlyn screamed like a banshee, all while trying to scoot away and land a punch on her attacker's face and chest while she was at it. Still trying his best to keep his victim pinned down to the ground, Mr. Buns swatted away her arms. There were a few moments where she had been this close to actually striking him, but to no avail. That's when he saw a gap between the attempted punches… and he gladly took the opportunity.

It took one hard strike to the two-toned woman's left temple; then everything went dark.

* * *

Only when her body hit something hard and the sound of creaking wood filled her ears, Kaitlyn came to. She attempted to open her eyes, but as they were just a millimeter or two apart, a sharp pain split her head in two, forcing her to close them again. There was another noise, one that she was very familiar with, drifting through the darkness, like some sort of mist. It seeped into her brain, slow and thick, until it reached the very center and she could faintly make a comprehension of what the sound was.

Flowing water.

She was lying on her side, but when she released a soft groan, caused by the unbearable pain inside her head, a pair of hands roughly grabbed her shoulder, flipping her onto her back. Another ugly spark, raw and red, was sent traveling through her entire head. The two-toned woman almost drifted back into unconsciousness. She struggled against it, focusing on the sound of the water, clinging onto it. She knew this sound so well, but in her heavily dazed state, she had no clue of where she exactly was. It didn't sink into her. That's when she heard two heavy footsteps, making the wood creak once more, somewhere in the direction of her legs. Wait… wait… it was coming. A picture of where she could be. Racing water, creaking wood… she had heard this combination of sounds so many times before. Despite the immense pain, Kaitlyn dared to slightly open her eyes. The world around her was one big blur.

Right on the moment where she was able to open them a bit more, someone was pulling off a strip of tape from its roll. Her legs were roughly grabbed and her ankles were immediately bound together by something, tighter and tighter until the taluses were pressed uncomfortably close to each other. Something ripped. The footsteps were heard once more, now coming closer to her. The two-toned woman groaned and it almost seemed like she was about to drift off again, but she snapped out of it when someone grabbed both of her hands, making the wrists overlap each other. Just like her ankles, they were tightly bound together. There was this stickiness on the skin while this happened. Kaitlyn groaned and blinked her eyes a couple of times. The blurriness slowly faded, but her body still felt so weak.

What she saw now was so damn clear.

Without saying a single word, Mr. Buns ripped the strip of tape in half, leaving her wrists bound. He put the roll into the pocket of his lilac waistcoat ('He was… he was prepared… goddamn it…' drifted through Kaitlyn's mind), not keeping his emotionless eyes off his victim for one moment while he did this. The last bit of blurriness disappeared when the two-toned woman two arms sliding underneath her and lifted her up, rough and careless, as if he was picking up a large bag full of trash.

Trash that he was planning on throwing away as quick as possible.

'No… don't… Don't…!' While she was being lifted up, Kaitlyn saw the wooden railing and the river, flowing faster than she had seen earlier, between the gaps. There was no time whatsoever for her to fight back when Mr. Buns effortlessly lifted her over the railing. Two and a half meters below her, the water was awaiting her. The two-toned woman widened her eyes in pure horror.

'No!'

That was the last thing she managed to shout before the psychotic monster dropped her. In that one second that followed, she was unable to collect enough breath to hold in. A loud splash was heard, and then all the sound and vision was abruptly cut off. The water had swallowed her whole.

There had been several times where the river's current had been strong enough to carry away a small child and perhaps some thick branches from a tree; this was the very first time that it had been actually capable of dragging along a full-grown adult. Weightless, helpless and already feeling the natural need for air, Kaitlyn was powerless to fight back against one of the relentless forces nature could produce as it dragged her closer and closer into the deeper part of the river, to the south. Her eyes were tightly clenched together, water entered her right ear when the current caused her body to rotate, her lungs were clenching together as they became desperate for air. Not once did the back of her head, her face, or any other part of her body for all that mattered come close to the surface. This had been the same river where she had played in when she was a kid, the same river where she had let paper boats drift along with the current, dove under water to see if she could get some more cool-looking pebbles for her collection, or just let her feet touch the water while she was lying down on the shore, taking a little nap. This almost felt like betrayal. The waters dragged Kaitlyn towards the deeper part of the river in a matter of seconds, and she knew as soon as she would touch the pebbles, sand and twigs that were lying on the bottom with her back, she would end as a floating corpse. That's when the surface would be the furthest away from her. Behind her clenched eyes, she could already imagine the haunting image. Whoever was unfortunate enough to stroll down the river on that day, be it a hiker, a group of playing children or a couple, would see her lying face-down in the water, on a spot where the current had calmed down; and depending on when she would be found, her body could be rotten and swollen, colored in a sickly shade of white. Her lungs would be most definitely filled to the brim with clear water. That is how she was going to die.

That is how she was going to die… if she didn't fight back.

The current was strong, so damn strong, but while she had been mercilessly dragged along, the strength in her bound limbs had returned. Kaitlyn held her wrists close to her face and carefully opened her eyes, knowing that everything around her was going to be blurry as hell. And this turned out to be true; all she could see was one big blur of light green. She had to hold her wrists a bit closer to her face, had to close her eyes for a moment when the current rotated her weightlessly body once more, then managed to take a closer look. And there it was, most likely a result of extreme luck: she could see where Mr. Buns had ripped off the duct tape. Kaitlyn didn't think twice about it. Water filled her mouth when she opened it. She had to do this, fast. Really fucking fast. Her teeth couldn't find the edge at first, or at the second attempt either. Then, at the third time, the two-toned woman could feel that she had clenched her teeth down on something. Oh thank God! The water had helped to make the stickiness of the duct tape wear off, thus making it easier for her to pull it off with her teeth. Tightly clenching down on the piece of tape, Kaitlyn jerked with her head; much to her relief, it came off, but her hands were still bound together. At this point, her oxygen-deprived brains and lungs were cramping up so badly that it made her dizzy. The two-toned woman spun her bound wrists in a clockwise fashion, all while still holding onto the duct tape with her teeth. The sound was heavily muffled, she heard that it was coming off. She continued to quickly spin her wrists, watching as more and more of the tape being pulled off, struggled to not let the cramps get to her.

It took one last jerk of her head, this time as hard as she could… and her wrists were freed.

Air, goddamn it! Air! Now!

Six seconds later, her head burst through the surface, mouth wide open and hoarsely gasping for air. The two-toned woman's throat burned like the Devil himself was pouring in scorching acid when she repeatedly gasped, breathing in as much oxygen as she could; the sensation of replenishing her brain and lungs felt so overwhelming that it nearly made her feel light-headed. She took a brief moment to quickly look around her, wanting to make absolutely sure that Mr. Buns hadn't decided to run along with her to watch her drown. She was all by herself, thank God; she couldn't even catch a glimpse of him in the far distance. Almost eighty meters had been made between her and the bridge. With all the strength that she had left in her body, Kaitlyn fought the current by swimming to the shore, all while still gasping. As soon as her hand reached the closest nearby pebbles and twigs, she deeply dug her fingernails inside the wet earth before clenching her hand into a fist.

At last, Kaitlyn had reached safety. Her entire body went numb when she rolled herself onto her back, still hoarsely breathing through her mouth, eyes wide and wild and her heart pounding like a jackhammer. Her wet hair was sticking in strands against her face and her skin itched due to her wet clothes.

The birds in the woods were suddenly singing again, and Kaitlyn knew two things.

One: had she fully pulled off the duct tape a few seconds later, she surely would've drowned by then.

And two: Mr. Buns knew she had returned to Hope's Creek.


	16. Just Let Me Do This

**Chapter 16**

 **Just Let Me Do This**

Did the grilled cheese sandwich with home-made tomato soup and the simple glass of water he had at the diner that afternoon do anything to keep his mind of his talk with Kaitlyn Bonin? No, not for one bit; that's why Dolph had barely tasted anything while he was eating.

It was crazy enough to think that Kaitlyn had returned to Hope's Creek after more than a decade and a half (her face had barely changed over the years… only a very few amount of people could actually pull this off, and she was clearly one of them), but what had to be the most surreal and craziest thing to think about was the possibility of that sick bastard still being alive. Somewhere, out there, he was still walking around, most likely without a shred of remorse about the horrors he had forced upon Hope's Creek during that summer. This thought was more than enough to send an uncomfortable chill down the spine of Dolph. Up until now, he had been completely convinced that it was the well-deserved death of Mr. Peters ended the string of murders, because it did make sense, after all. It only stopped when he died. You didn't have to be a seasoned detective to believe that the vicious murders on those innocent girls were tied to that old man. The blonde bar owner he had seen it on the news. He had seen the footage of the yellow tape the police used to keep curious bystanders at bay from the a crime scene, the police officers carrying boxes of which the content would make even the most toughened, hardened person in the world sick to his stomach, that one glimpse of the curious yet unsettled residents of that neighborhood who had flocked towards the house to see what all the commotion was about. When everyone began to believe that Alfred Peters was the one responsible for the grisly murder, he too was convinced. Labeling him as the Hope's Creek Killer had been so easy. And God, did Dolph loathe him. He took the easy way out while the families of the victims and one surviving victim were forced to somehow pick up the pieces of their shattered lives… that fucking coward.

And now it all seemed like the blonde bar owner had been pointing his justified hatred to the wrong man.

It was just as Kaitlyn said; he was a sick bastard, but he wasn't the one who killed the girls. He was nothing more but a scapegoat for this whole time. Not once had the media mentioned about finding the rabbit suit in that house, but no one seemed to care to dig deeper into this; hell, even the police believed that he had been the sick fuck they had been feverishly looking for. It had all been a matter of perfect timing, now that the blonde bar owner actually thought about it. The true killer had been free from all the blame and was able to continue living amongst all the other residents. Bizarre. Crazy. It was almost impossible to find the right word to describe this.

Whoever he really was, there was a chance that he knew about what happened to AJ.

He had used a pay phone to try to call Dana Brooke before he had gone to the diner; unfortunately nobody was there at the residence to pick up. Not really a surprise to the blonde bar owner, if you'd ask him. She had her hands more than full on her baby boy, who if unlucky enough, would never grow up with a proper father figure in his life. The reason why she wasn't picking up was most likely because she was lying on the couch, catching up with the sleep she had missed out on last night because her baby couldn't help but cry for either a bottle or a clean diaper every two hours. She sure as hell was going to need a nap before starting her shift, so Dolph decided to let her be for now and ask her tonight about AJ's possible visit at the bar.

For as long as he could remember, AJ had been like a little sister to him, nothing else. Of course he was aware of her being more affectionate around him than she was around other guys, he knew how fond she was of him. And to be honest, it often made him uncomfortable as hell. He didn't mind a short hug when they met up or said goodbye, but whenever she started clinging onto him like he was a life-sized teddy bear or kiss him on the cheeks, he drew the line. It was so wrong in his eyes to date a thirteen-year old, it was so wrong in so many ways. Dolph had tried to make her aware to this, though not in a straight-to-the-point kind of manner, since he would've had hated to be outright blunt to a girl who already had such a troubled home life. He had tried to make his point clear to her by gently prying off her arms around his waist, carefully pushing her away after a surprise kiss, slowly standing up after her sitting on his lap for more than twenty seconds to make her get off; and yet AJ Lee had never gotten it. She continued to show affection to him, until the very end. As aforementioned, he had always seen her like a little sister; a little sister who was unaware of the fact that she had to better her life. So yes, he did genuinely care about her, he really did.

Dolph still cared enough about her to this day to wish that the sick bastard that ruined her childhood wasn't behind her disappearance. He swore to God that he was going to help Kaitlyn with finding her in any way he could.

While he had been checking the stock of alcoholic drinks when he returned to the bar, it didn't take him long to realize that it would be a good idea to fill up these provisions with a quick trip to the supermarket, just to make absolutely sure he wasn't going to run out for tonight. Sure, Brian may have been dropped out of the big leagues years ago, but that didn't mean he had been forgotten entirely. Whenever he had a gig, a good amount of people would always show up to hear him play, be it for simply having a good time or for nostalgia's sake. There would definitely be some folk from the big cities like Bangor or Portland who still remembered who The Brian Kendrick was, maybe even from big cities that were further away, so if these fans were up for a little road trip to this town for a night out, the blonde bar owner would be grateful for this.

Sure, the show was in a small town that was known for a string of grotesque murders of preteen girls in 1980 and that psychotic sicko might still be roaming the streets while the scapegoat had only stopped rotting a year or so after his death meters below the earth underneath an unnamed tombstone at the local cemetery, but hey, can't have let that ruin a good night out, right? At least, that's what Dolph guessed what would be going on inside the heads of those people, minus the facts of the scapegoat and the real murderer being somewhere out there.

The bottles of vodka, whiskey, tequila and rum chimed like tiny crystal bells when Dolph pushed the shopping cart over the low doorstep, exiting the supermarket. He wasn't going to lie; staring at the rows of booze that had been in front of him earlier brought back some memories… and it nearly made him sick to his stomach. Many years had passed and he had successfully won the battle against his alcoholism, but the memories of him buying more alcoholic drinks than actual food were still so clear to him. He hadn't drunk one drop of beer or any other drink during all these years, he was damn proud of that, he had even managed to keep this up while running his late father's bar, so he dearly hoped from the bottom of his heart that he could keep the temptation at bay for another night.

The blonde bar owner calmly pushed the full shopping cart ahead of him, crossing the half-full parking lot and heading straight to his car. He opened the trunk and began to load in the stash, carefully putting the bottles inside one by one, until the shopping cart was empty. After he put the last bottle of whisky in the trunk, he slammed the lid shut with a big thud. It usually took him two or three more slams to make the trunk close (Dolph had owned this car for more than eight years, hopefully it would only be the trunk's lock that was faulty, though lately he had been often hearing this strange rattling noise whenever he started the engine), but this time, it closed without a hitch.

Dolph didn't know why he glanced to his left. There was no noise that distracted him, yet he took a look at the other side of the street, where a shop that sold sport equipment had been located there ever since the blonde bar owner had been born; most young boys who lived in Hope's Creek had paid a visit to this shop more than a couple times during their lives. And right on that moment, Kaitlyn Bonin exited that shop. She was holding a freshly bought wooden baseball bat in her right hand.

'Kaitlyn!'

The blonde bar owner didn't think twice about leaving the supermarket's parking lot and crossing the street. He knew it may be a bit too hasty, but he wanted to know if there had been any updates in the search for AJ. She had obviously heard him, he saw her looking up.

He didn't notice it at first due to the distance between them, but as Dolph got close to her, he saw how wide and scared they looked, as if she had heard a ghost calling out to her.

'How is everythi…' the blonde bar owner's words abruptly died when he stood close enough to her to see how truly shaken up his childhood friend really was… and it made his stomach drop to his feet.

This two-toned woman had already looked slightly spooked when she had visited Ziggler's earlier today, and in a matter of a rather short period of time, she had gone from spooked to absolutely terrified. For a moment it almost looked like she didn't recognize him, her frightened olive green eyes were so wide open that it was almost like she was missing her eyelids. He may have not noticed this, but her trembling hand clenched tighter around the baseball bat, turning her knuckles white. Dolph could immediately tell that she had possibly an involuntary plunge in water. Her clothes hadn't even come close to drying up, uncomfortable sticking against her body. Her hair was soaking wet, some strands were draped onto her shoulders and around her neck, like beached seaweed. And what Dolph saw on her throat had to be the most chilling about her current state. Thick, vertical lines, red, hideous and vicious, had emerged on the skin of her throat, visible enough for anyone to see. He had been hot enough today for him to sweat, but the blonde bar owner felt like he was completely frozen solid from the inside.

'Jesus Christ…' he said with a soft voice. 'Are you alright? What the fuck happened to you, Kait?'

The frightened look in Kaitlyn's eyes softened, making her eyelids appear again. She tried to let out a sigh, but it looked like this hurt, because Dolph heard her breath hitch. The two-toned woman took a moment to gulp, either to ease the pain in her throat, to calm down, or both.

'He…' Her voice was hoarse and she realized this, pausing for a second to clear her painful throat. 'He knows, Dolph.'

'Who? Who knows what?' In the back of his head, the blonde bar owner could easily guess the answer.

'Mr. Buns…' Kaitlyn's voice still had some hoarseness, sounding a bit louder than a whisper. 'He knows I'm back.'

'Mr. Buns? Wait, you mean…?'

Oh fuck.

'I saw him in the woods. I was there to look if I could…' The two-toned woman had to clear her throat once more in an attempt to push back the pain for a bit more. 'I was there to look if I could find any clues. I know that AJ used to spend a lot of time in the woods when we were kids, so I thought… I found nothing. But he found me. I think he had been following me this whole time. He attacked me when I was heading back. At first he tried to strangle me, but when that didn't work, he… he tied me up and tried to drown me. I could get away, though. And as you can now…' She glanced down at the baseball bat. 'I have decided to take some measures.'

'Oh my fucking God, Kait…' Dolph's insides had frozen to arctic levels. 'Did you… Did you manage to see who it was?'

Kaitlyn shook her head. 'No.' she replied.

'You are not going to do this alone, you hear me?' the blonde bar owner said resolutely. 'I am not going to let you this all by yourself, okay? You can stay at my place for as long as you need to, I don't want to leave you alone in that motel room any longer. If he knows that you're here, that probably means that you're no longer safe. I hate to tell you that, but it's true. It's getting too dangerous, Kait! Look at you, that bastard has already hurt you! Come with me, I can help you!'

She regrettably had to admit this, but deep inside, the two-toned woman knew that Dolph was right. Mr. Buns had found out that she had returned, so now from this moment on, she had a target on her back. He had gotten his hands on her moments ago, he had nearly managed to kill her. All of her trust was put in Dolph, she knew she could rely on him for a full hundred percent. She knew he would protect and help her whenever he could, he had proven this to her years ago. Dolph's offer was tempting, so damn tempting.

Then, all of a sudden, the earlier mental image she had of herself as a rotting, pale, bloated corpse with the limbs tied together and floating face-down in the river changed; that said corpse was now Dolph's. And that image made her beyond sick to her stomach.

'Dolph…' she said. 'I can't. I can't let you help me.'

'What?' Dolph asked in disbelief. 'You can't be serious!'

'Don't you see?' Kaitlyn managed to slightly raise her voice to try and make her point clear to him, even though this made her throat feeling like it was being brushed with sandpaper. 'You will be in danger too! I can't ever forgive myself if I let him hurt you, or even worse! What if it's you he will turn his attention to? Look Dolph, I appreciate you wanting me to stick with you, but I simply can't. If I do that… you will get a target on your back, you know what I mean? So please, just let me be. Let me do this on my own!'

'Kait, come the fuck on…'

'No!' At this point, the two-toned woman's raw throat was burning. 'Don't let yourself get killed because of me, Dolph! Just don't!'

All while ignoring the blonde bar owner's protests, Kaitlyn quickly walked away. She had parked her car a few feet away from the store. After loudly breathing out through her nose once she was inside, she drove off.

* * *

Its plastic yellowed over the years due to be left in a box for God knows how long, the dice rolled over the faded, carton plate, on which a long, spiraling path consisting of 63 pieces that took up most of the space was printed, leaving just enough space in the middle for an illustration of a grayish goose. For a split second, it almost looked like the dice was going to show its two dots, but instead showed three black dots when it stopped rolling.

Mr. Buns clapped his hands in excitement; the clapping was heavily muffled by his plush gloves.

'Hooray! Three steps for me!' he exclaimed. The pitch of his actual voice went higher, but thanks to the ever present voice box, he sounded more like a happy demon. He pinched the figurine, a small, wooden, blue goose, between his thumb and index finger and moved it across exactly three pieces of the path ahead of it. 'Five more steps and I will win! You'd better get lucky now, my sweet little AJ, or I might beat you! I have always loved playing 'Game of the Goose', it's my favorite game! We are going to play this so many more times together. Because do you know why?'

She hadn't spoken one single word while they had been playing. AJ Lee carefully looked up, as if glancing at her kidnapper could already send him flying into a madness-fueled rage. She was on her guard, hell, she had been like that all day. Mr. Buns had been in a great mood when he had entered her prison, cheerful even. He couldn't help but address AJ as 'darling', which had almost made the petite woman want to puke. She refused to answer to his greeting. At first it looked like Mr. Buns hadn't minded this too much. After locking the door behind him, he had walked straight to one of the toy chest, opened it and began to dig to the bottom, all while taking out the vintage toys, like a red and white striped whirlabout, a teddy bear that was missing an arm, a felt white horse of which most of its blonde mane had worn off, a pink rubber ball and countless more dolls, all of which he carefully put beside him, as if each toy had been made of glass. He had found what he had been looking for; an antique board game of 'Game of the Goose'. And he wanted AJ to play this with him, so badly.

Mr. Buns had seen the inner conflict on his precious prisoner's face; he had felt the need to step in to make up her mind.

A crescent-shaped cut, covered in dried up blood and half a centimeter away from the center of AJ's lower lip was all it took to make her play the board game with him.

'Well?' she asked. The petite woman refused to let this fucker show how afraid she was of him, but much to her dismay, she noticed the escaping tremble in her voice while she spoke. The faint, iron-like taste of blood lingered on her tongue.

'It's because it's going to be you and me, my princess. Forever and ever. Nobody, and I mean nobody, shall take you away from me. You are my beautiful little girl. My beautiful little girl that I have been waiting for so long… It's like a dream coming true.'

Drop dead, you fucking bastard. Had AJ said this out loud, she surely would've earned another wound to her lip, or even worse. It was wise of her to keep her mouth shut and grab the dice, loosely shaking it in his closed hand for two seconds before rolling it out. The tiny cube stopped rolling and it turned out that luck seemed to be siding with the petite woman for once; she was allowed to make six steps. Her goose was yellow. She was just behind Mr. Buns.

'Well I'll be! Well done, my darling! You're catching up to me! Who knows, maybe it will be you who will win!'

Was he still going to praise her if she'd win, or was he going to flip this table over, break off one of the legs and bash her head until it was nothing more than a gory mush of blood, bone chips and brains? The petite woman had no idea, this was too confusing. He did sound like he was genuinely praising of her catching up on him earlier, but it so obvious that he still wanted to win this game. Another goddamn mind game he was playing on her. AJ was convinced that they'd continue for as long as he could keep her here… and he sure as hell wouldn't think for a second about letting her go.

'You know… there was somebody who was planning on taking you away from me.' Right on that moment, Mr. Buns slightly leaned forward, as if he was about to tell her a secret. Instinctively, the petite woman tightly clenched her fists into her skirt.

'It was that pesky friend of yours. She has been dying blonde streaks in her hair… that's how little remaining a pure, beautiful, little girl means to her. I instantly recognized her face. I found out why she was here. She was going to steal you, my sweet AJ! You should probably know by now that I wasn't going to let her, you mean so much to me. As soon as I found out her horrible plan, I swore that I would stop that evil bitch. You don't have to be afraid, princess. I have already taken care of her. Because right now, she's rotting on the bottom of the river. Oh yes, she is. Tied her up and tossed her off the bridge in the woods. She won't bother us anymore. Now we have all the time in the world! Just you and me…'

What…

The world around her had ceased to be. It hadn't AJ taken long to figure who that 'pesky' friend with the blonde streaks in her hair was… and it made every drop of blood drain away from her face. Her eyes widened in pure shock and horror as the words of Mr. Buns slowly sank into her brains, falling onto their correct place. Kaitlyn… oh God, Kaitlyn… She was here to find her, because she had told her she was going to search for that bastard. She came to look for her and now… she was… she was… no… Kaitlyn… Kaitlyn! It was too much for her brain to comprehend, it was way too much. The shock overwhelmed her and swallowed her up like a hungry monster, large, pale and with thin, red veins pulsating underneath its almost transparent skin. It paralyzed her from the inside. All the petite woman could do was stare at her kidnapper in absolute horror, eyes wide, mouth slightly open but unable to produce any sound. The tears were burning like acid behind her eyes, but she couldn't let them out. Not one drop.

It was way too much.

Mr. Buns either didn't notice or care to see the emotional devastation he had brought upon his beloved prisoner. He picked up the dice and rolled it.

'Five!' he exclaimed in excitement and moved his goose to the last patch on the end of the track. 'I've won! I have to say, all this playing has made me hungry. Oh, I know! How about we make some pancakes together? What do you say? Sounds great, doesn't it? I am excited for it already! I'm certain that I've put the right ingredients in the fridge. I believe I still do have a pan downstairs… I'll be right back, my beautiful princess. You wait right here, I'll be back in a moment! And if you are still behaving so good like you're doing right now when I come back… I'll let you have some maple syrup on your pancakes.'

Then, after he patted her on the head like she was a puppy instead of a human being, Mr. Buns got up and calmly walked to the door, not once looking behind him to check on the heap of emotional wreckage that was still sitting on the chair. He unlocked the door, opened it and exited the room. A click was heard when he locked the door behind him.

And it was that very same click that reached inside the petite woman, found its way to her brain and flipped the switch.

It was only then that she could run to the door and bang on it with her fists, with tears running down her face and hysterically shout the worst insults that came to her mind at the top of her lungs until she dropped to her knees and lied down on the floor, curling up in a fetal position while the tears continued to spill out.


	17. Guilt

**Chapter 17**

 **Guilt**

Right on that same moment when AJ's strawberry-flavored bubblegum bubble popped with a rather high-pitched pop, the school bell began to ring at full volume, signaling the end of the school day. It was Monday. For some reason, the ringing sounded more shrill than usual.

'About freaking time.' the petite girl mumbled. She had been waiting for about half an hour now and the flavor from her bubblegum had started to drain away by now. The wrapper had been thrown away in a trash bin near the supermarket; AJ took the chewed-up, pale pink gum out of her mouth, rolled it into a tiny ball between her thumb and middle finger and aimed it at the drain on the other side of the street. Bulls-eye. It brought a little sense of satisfaction.

It had been two days since she had brought Kaitlyn along with her to meet the group of guys and so far as she could tell, it had gone pretty well. It could have gone better if you'd ask her, but still. There had been some moments where she had noticed her friend being awfully quiet around the guys. She was so incredibly shy, silently sitting on the couch, just watching at the party that had been unfolding around her. Shyness was something that was so alien to AJ Lee. She couldn't remember one time in her life when she had been like that, even when she had been a toddler. Her mother had more or less confirmed this many times at some moments where the heroin had caused her to go off in a raging rant, by saying that she always had been a careless little shit who didn't care about what she said, and what a filthy tiny slut she had been by constantly running up to male strangers like the milkman or salesmen who showed up on the doorstep and hug them. (This latter tendency had began almost six months after her father had left the family; it was only then when little AJ was slowly beginning to understand that he was never coming home again, and thus needed to fill up that inner void which was the need of a male figure she could love by clinging onto those men like they were big teddy bears.) Being fearless and bold had been the two traits she had carried along with her for her entire life and she had been so damn proud of this, since it was this that kept her standing. On that Saturday night, it became clear to her that Kaitlyn was the total opposite of these things. Not that she had a problem with it; after all, she was raised to be a goody two-shoes who was taught to live with her parents' constant fighting without a say in the matter. Somewhere, AJ was kind of hoping to make that change. But despite her shyness, it did look like she was having a good time, which she could clearly see when Brian Kendrick came up with the idea to treat everyone with a free private concert, so that was good. The petite girl just hoped her parents didn't find out about her going out while they were gone. She was certain she was going to hear soon about this, though.

They hadn't gotten the chance to hang out on the day after the party; at some time in the morning, Kaitlyn had called her to inform that her other friend Liv was coming over to play with her. Yes, she had the right to hang out with her as well, but AJ wasn't going to lie… it nearly felt like betrayal to her. But she had managed to shrug the slight disappoint off and decided to make the best of that Sunday by herself. Her mother hadn't been there when she came home last night and she had been spending most of her time shooting up inside her bedroom for most of the day that came afterwards, which had been totally fine with AJ; she didn't have any need to have that woman around.

AJ had the front doors of the school building opening up. Footsteps, chatter and laughter immediately followed afterwards. Peeking from behind the wall, she expected to see Kaitlyn first. But the small smile that had been present on her face instantly dropped when she saw that one girl who she did not want to see. As you could've guessed… it was none other than Carmella Van Dale, accompanied by her group of four desperate girls who hoped to become her 'friends' for their own personal reason. Crap! Why did it have to be her?! As a true queen bee in the making, it was Carmella who was walking in front of her friends, the others following her like the dumb sheep they were. At first she didn't notice her at first, but one second before AJ was about to hide back behind the wall, the popular girl's head turned in her direction and immediately noticed her. Her eyes slightly widened in surprise, but the surprise didn't last for too long, as her mouth turned into a big, cocky grin; that was the non-verbal cue for all the eight-graders of Hope's Creek Middle School that a whole load of mean-spirited vileness was about to be spat out of Carmella's mouth.

'Holy crap, would you look at that!' she said out loud, pointing at AJ. At this point, the petite girl knew it was pointless to try to hide, since now they all knew she was there. She saw the heads of the other girls turning to her direction and they all saw her. Goddamn it, here we go again… she didn't think this out of fear, but out of pure annoyance. 'Hope's Creek local slut has finally decided to show up again at school! You're a bit late though, you dumb bitch! School's already out!'

The petite girl absolutely refused to run away from the likes of her, she didn't grant her the feeling of being a superior bad bitch for one moment. Instead, she stepped from behind the wall, now in full view of the group of bullies. By leaning against the wall, folding her arms and scowling at them, she made it clear to them that the unavoidable wave of verbal diarrhea wasn't going to faze her in the slightest. She swore to God that Carmella's grin grew cockier and cockier when she was getting closer to her.

'Oh, hey Carmella.' AJ calmly spoke. 'I already thought you were coming. I could smell sour milk from a mile across.'

The popular girl, now standing right in front of her, scoffed and rolled her eyes, the grin still remaining on her face. 'You can talk tough all you want, AJ, but it still doesn't take away the fact that you're the biggest loser ever. You rarely show up at school, your mom's a dirty junkie, you constantly hang out with older guys who you probably let them fuck you…' The grin went from cocky to downright cruel as a twinkle appeared in the corner of Carmella's left eye. 'Face it, AJ. You're trash, and there will be nothing you can do to change that. While I'll be rich and successful later on, you on the other hand are gonna take it up the ass for ten dollars. Maybe less, even.'

This remark caused the other girls to collectively snigger, and as much as the petite girl wanted to rip out every hair out of Carmella's head, she remained calm. By this time, a couple of other students passed them by and turned their heads, some of them even chuckled before continuing to walk.

'What else you got?' she replied. 'You're running out of original insults, you know? Slut, trash, loser… those get pretty old.'

Just as Carmella was about to open her mouth to hurl back some freshly thought-up insult, a voice that AJ knew all too well called out the petite girl's name. It was most likely because of the popular girl's presence that Kaitlyn didn't smile when she walked towards her friend; one glance at the sight of Carmella standing near her confirmed in her mind that she hadn't learned one damn thing about the beating she got in the cafeteria.

'Is she bothering you again?' She couldn't help but ask this once she had reached her friend, glaring at Carmella while she spoke.

'Well, what do you know, girls?' Carmella said. 'I'm guessing Kaitlyn Bonin out of all people became her friend… sluttiness does rub off on some people!'

Kaitlyn refused to let those words get to her. 'Can't you ever say something nice for a change, Carmella? Seriously, you should try it. Makes you look less like a bitch.'

Then she turned around and grabbed AJ's arm. 'Come on AJ, let's get out of here.'

Her friend didn't reply, but walked away with her nonetheless. It was when they had made five steps away from the group of girls that Carmella couldn't help but show off her mean streak for one last time.

'Have fun being sluts together!' she shouted at them. Laughter of her friends followed afterwards.

* * *

'Well, looks like you've officially made Carmella's shit list.' AJ said while they turned around the corner, wishing to make as much distance between them and the school as quick as possible. The plan in her head was to head to the supermarket together, buy a whole bunch of those delicious smoothies and take them to their secret lair, where they would drink it while they would lay down in the sun and/or read some of her magazines. She wondered which flavor Kaitlyn would prefer; hopefully she would like the raspberry/banana smoothies just as much as she did. AJ chuckled. 'Don't worry though, I must be ranking much higher on that list than you, so maybe she'll cut you some slack. And if she dares to do anything to you… I bet there are plenty of spots in the woods where we can bury her.'

She had expected to hear a little laugh from her friend, but for some reason, she kept quiet. AJ turned her and instantly saw the genuinely worried expression of Kaitlyn's face. She was silently glancing down at her feet, as if she was lost deep within whatever was bothering her.

'Hey… is everything alright?' AJ asked. 'You don't have to be scared of Carmella, you know. I'm not afraid of whooping her ass again if I-'

'It's not about Carmella.' Kaitlyn said, abruptly interrupting her, perhaps more abrupt than she intended to. 'You remember Liv? The friend I was hanging out with last Sunday?'

'Uh… um… yeah, I remember her. Why? What's up with her?'

That's when Kaitlyn looked up and AJ. 'Her mom called this morning. She had asked me if she had been staying at our place last night, because… she never came home.'

Those words had been haunting Kaitlyn for the entire day, starting when she hung up the phone after Mrs. Morgan thanked the girl for telling her this; the wavering in her voice while she thanked her immediately made it clear about how freaked out she was getting, and Kaitlyn couldn't blame her in the slightest. This wasn't the answer Mrs. Morgan had been hoping to receive. What the hell was going on here? Why didn't Liv come home? Where was she? Those questions were endlessly played over and over again in Kaitlyn's head for the entire day, like a needle being stuck on a record. And those questions made her sick to her stomach. For as far as she could remember, there had been nothing unusual about Liv's behavior before she left. Hell, she had been acting like her tomboyish, energetic self for the whole time they were hanging out on that Sunday. Kaitlyn's parents knew she was coming over, so for that one day they pulled off a top-notch performance of the perfectly happy family, like they'd always do when people visited them. They were always so good at it, it was almost scary. After all, the image the whole town had of them was sacred in the Bonin household. Liv had arrived about an hour after the Bonin family had their lunch. Kaitlyn could still clearly remember how she stood there in the open doorway in all her tomboyish glory when her mother greeted her; her navy blue and white baseball cap with the logo of a well-known baseball team from Bangor printed on the front had been put on backwards, the plastic white stick of her lollypop stuck out of the right corner of her mouth, a deep red abrasion had been made on her left knee at some point during these past days, a grass stain could be seen on the leg of her overalls and as usual, she was radiating with the confidence and sense of invincibility only a thirteen-year old girl could possess. She had also brought two plastic, lime green water pistols with her.

'Kait, check this out!' Liv said to her when she came in and stuck out her tongue, which had somehow colored blueberry blue. She quickly pulled it back in her mouth. 'It's because of the lollypop I had earlier, how freaking cool is that? They've been selling these lollipops that color your tongue at the bakery for a while now, you should try them out!'

The two girls had a great afternoon together. They first went to Kaitlyn's bedroom to read comic books, which they narrated with the silliest voices they could make and thus resulted in the stories often being interrupted by their laughter. When they were done with this, the girls went outside and raced each across the clearing behind the house; it was no surprise that Liv won. They decided to stay close to the tree line. There they spend a good amount of time chasing each other while pretending the sticks they were holding were guns, climbing in trees, throwing pebbles across the clearing, playing tag and drawing doodles in the earth with their fingers. After that, they returned to the house where the best way to wash off the earth staining their hands and knees was to spray each other with the water pistols. They tried their best to fend off the squirts of water, but in the end, both girls' clothes were completely soaked. Thankfully it had been so warm on that day, they were more or less fully dried up before it was time for Liv to leave, since she had told earlier that she would have dinner with her own family. But just before her friend was about to turn around and walk away from the house, Kaitlyn couldn't have helped but voice her concern about her walking home all by herself. Because that's exactly what Alicia had been on the night where she went missing; alone. And there hadn't been any news about possible suspects that had been arrested yet.

Liv Morgan, being her fearless (and perhaps dangerously naïve) self, shrugged all of her friend's worries off. 'Hey, I'm not scared!' the tomboy had replied. 'There's no psycho in this world who is gonna get his hands on me, because you know why? I can run. Fast, mind you. Don't worry about me, okay? See you tomorrow in class, Kait! It had been fun!'

And just like that, she took off. That had been the last time Kaitlyn had seen her.

She had hoped so badly that she would indeed be at school this morning, standing near the gates and cheerfully waving at her as soon as she would see her. When this didn't turn out to be, her hope had been shifted to the classroom, another place where she could possibly be. There too, this hope was dashed; Liv's desk was empty. And Kaitlyn hadn't been the only one who was concerned. Knowing that Liv and Kaitlyn were frequently seen with each other, Mrs. Ferguson had asked her after class if she had any idea where Liv was, since a reason of her absence for today hadn't been reported by her family. The girl had wished so badly that she had better news, and had no other choice than to tell her teacher that she didn't have a clue either. If Liv's parents hadn't called the police by now, she was sure Mrs. Ferguson would've done that by now.

AJ widened her eyes in surprise. 'Are you serious?' she asked.

Kaitlyn nodded. 'What if he got her, AJ? Alicia's killer is still out there, what if he… Oh God...' While she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.

'But what if it's not like that?' her friend asked. It was time to try her best to calm her down; hopefully she would sound convincing enough. 'Maybe… Did she ever say anything about, like, running away?'

'No…'

'Does she have other friends besides you? Maybe she had been staying at one of their homes last night.'

'Well… I think she also got along pretty well with Sarah Logan from our class and that's about it. But they really haven't been hanging around much anymore. And she also didn't say anything about wanting to meet up with someone else before she left.'

'Then… maybe she's just sick?'

'I don't think so, she seemed pretty healthy yesterday. And if she was really sick, then Mrs. Ferguson wouldn't have asked me where she was in the first place…' Kaitlyn shook her head. 'I don't get it, she couldn't have just disappeared. Something horrible must have happened to her, I can feel it in my guts. I don't want… I don't want her to end up like Alicia…' At this point, the tears were nearly impossible to control and AJ could sense this. She gently put her hands on Kaitlyn's shoulder and rubbed them in a seemingly successful attempt to calm her friend down. Her breath hitched only once before she breathed out deeply through her nose several times, fighting back the panic. Having a meltdown wasn't going to get her any answers, she knew this damn well, but this was almost too much for her to handle.

'It's okay, it's okay…' AJ said with a soft voice. 'Don't worry, I'm sure she will turn up, and she will fine, you'll see!'

Even though Kaitlyn wasn't fully convinced of this, these words, the rubbing on her shoulders and the way she was breathing helped to calm her down to some degree. The tears were pushed back, the lump with the size of a brick that was stuck in her throat sank down at last. All of this also helped to make her think more clearly. Yes, there was a chance that Liv wasn't kidnapped, and the chance that she was still alive was there as well… but it didn't take away the feeling that something bad had happened to her. She knew how Liv was, she had known her since fifth grade, for goodness sake! She surely would've told her if there was something bothering her, because she had always done this. Liv knew Kaitlyn could be trusted, and vice versa, of course. Then surely she would have also told her if there was something that bothered her so much that she decided to run away, right?

Right?

Kaitlyn's sigh trembled as she slowly breathed out through her mouth, which brought a sense of relief to AJ.

'You think so?' her friend asked.

'Yeah, of course!' AJ replied.

Forget the smoothies; a new idea had popped up in her head. They were going somewhere else, a place that could probably be even more fun than their hideout. And hopefully it could cheer her up a bit.

'Come on, let's go!' The petite girl gently grabbed Kaitlyn's arm and began to drag her along. 'I know a place where a lot of people go to when something's bugging them and believe me, you're gonna love being there! I'm pretty sure it's still open by now.'

'W-Wait, what? What are you talking about? Where are we going?'

AJ looked back over her shoulder; a slightly mischievous twinkle appeared in the left corner of her eye as she grinned at her confused friend.

'Ziggler's!' she cheerfully exclaimed.

* * *

It had taken the girls less than half an hour to get from the school to Ziggler's, a bar that Kaitlyn (until she had met Dolph at the party) had only known from the outside whenever she was sitting in the back of her parents car whenever they were driving through the town. Never, not even once, did she have the curious thought of how it would look like on the inside, since she not once had the interest of visiting a bar. Alcohol had this strange, almost foul smell (during the time she was ten years old, her parents once had organized a BBQ party for the entire neighborhood where beer was one of the beverages for the adults and perhaps one or two of the more rebellious kids who were forced to attend the party with their parents to enjoy; one sniff out of typical youthful curiosity inside the bottle made Kaitlyn conclude that alcohol smelled absolutely gross and that she was never going to drink one drop of it, because foul-smelling drinks could possibly never taste good) and she was convinced that the whole place was smelling like it. Not only that, but it was also a place where people were going to get drunk… the thought of sitting between a horde of unpredictable drunks made Kaitlyn feel anything but comfortable.

However, she couldn't also help but be curious, perhaps a little hopeful too, if Dolph would be there.

There had been no chance to protest as AJ practically dragged her inside the place, confidence almost radiating from her body, like she had come here many times before. And just like Kaitlyn had expected, the smell of beer was there, mixed with stale cigarette smoke, but much to her surprise, the scent wasn't as heavy as she had expected it would be. And there were no patrons whatsoever, most likely due to the fact that it was still day time; the girl wondered how packed the place would be by night. There was music on the background, coming from a jukebox standing near a pool table, playing a song that most definitely belonged to some rock 'n roll band from the 70's. And since the music wasn't playing that loud, it made it easy for the only person present here, a young man who was working behind the bar, to hear the two girls entering the place. He didn't need to turn around for Kaitlyn to recognize him; one glance at his blonde hair was more than enough.

'Hey Dolph!' AJ called out while her mouth curled into a broad smile. Their footsteps that caused the wooden floor to creak plus her voice was all it took for him to turn around. Dolph blinked his eyes in surprise.

'AJ?' he asked. His surprise only lasted two seconds though, as he briefly shook his head. 'I'm warning you already, I'm not going to pour you any booze, okay?' he said resolutely. He then shifted his attention to Kaitlyn. 'Same goes for you too, Kaitlyn. You don't want to imagine the heap of shit I'll get myself into if my old man finds out I've been giving alcohol to underage girls.'

'Relax, Dolph.' AJ calmly replied as she effortlessly hopped onto one of the stools. 'If I wanted to try out beer, then I would've saved that for another party. A soda will do!'

While she was speaking, Kaitlyn had sat down next to her. 'Uh… for me a glass of water, please.'

'You're one of the very who actually ordered that.' Dolph replied, though judging from the tone of his voice, it was safe to assume that this was a good thing. Really, it was nice to see him again, but it unfortunately didn't repress the harrowing feeling about Liv's sudden disappearance that was slowly creeping back up again.

Less than a half a minute later, AJ and Kaitlyn were each treated with a deliciously cold drink.

'So how did things end up with Brian?' the petite girl asked after she had taken her first sip of her orange soda. 'Did you hear anything from him on Sunday?'

'From what he said, I'm pretty sure it ended fine.' Dolph said while he cleaned a glass. 'He told me that his mom was yelling at him even after we left, but that was about it. I can't say I'm surprised.'

'Yeah me neither, it's been like that too last time, right? When you dropped him off at his place one time when he was so wasted that he could barely stand?' The memory of Brian making it to the front door after stumbling maybe four or five times while constantly claiming that he was perfectly fine each time he got up was apparently hilarious enough to make the girl snigger. That had been on the night when there had been a birthday party at one of the guys' place and Brian once again couldn't help but show his friends that besides creating music, chugging as many beers as he could was also a talent of him. AJ had later learned from Dolph that Brian said that as soon as his mother saw how wasted he was when she opened the door, she instantly began furiously scolding him, but other than this, no real punishment had followed up afterwards.

Dolph too remembered this; he chuckled and shook his head. 'Yep. That guy is so fucking nuts.'

'You're kidding.' the girl replied with a smirk. 'Jeez, I haven't figured that out yet. But it's what makes him so much fun.'

'I can't say I disagree with you there.'

Kaitlyn tried her best to pay attention to the conversation, she really did. She had hoped that doing so would push down that awful feeling that was now lingering inside the pits of her stomach. Yes, she heard them speak, she saw their mouths moving, but the words didn't reach her mind, since that was somewhere else. Where she didn't know, though one thing was for sure; it was wherever Liv was. Kaitlyn appreciated AJ's attempt at cheering her up and she hated to tell her this, but it wasn't exactly working. She silently stared at the glass of water, wherein three ice cubes had already began to slowly melt; she pretty much already knew that even if she drank the whole glass, the water still would be incapable of washing away what she was feeling. That's when it hit her how damn wrong this was. She shouldn't be doing this. Liv was somewhere out there, perhaps trapped in some dark, dusty basement, room or wherever that bastard had kept Alicia Fox before he had decided to make Liv his next victim, scared out of her mind and desperate to be found. The mental image of her frightened, teary-eyed friend gagged and lying on the floor with her limbs tied together and desperately attempting to call out for help caused an arctic chill to run up her spine. And here she was, sitting in some bar, doing nothing. Guilt instantly crashed over the young girl like an avalanche, mercilessly and with full force.

It was too much; the tears sprang back into her eyes.

Both Dolph and AJ had noticed this.

'Jesus, Kaitlyn… is everything okay?' the blonde boy asked.

The girl shook her head. 'I have to go… I'm sorry AJ, but… Liv…'

Just before AJ was able to touch her friend's arm in another attempt to calm her down, Kaitlyn had already slipped off the stool and ran towards the bar's door. As soon as she was outside, her tears felt like they were boiling to the point where she was no longer able to hold them back. They spilled over, trickling down her cheeks and caused her to see blurry. Kaitlyn had noticed the vague shapes of people who just happened to be walking down the street and she was sure that their heads were turned in her direction, but she didn't care in the slightest. It felt like the inside of her head was spinning at full speed like a malfunctioning machine, as she tried to come up where to look for Liv first. This, along with the layer of tears that clouded her sight, made it difficult to how to correctly place her feet while running.

She didn't make it far from Ziggler's. It all happened in the blink of an eye. She felt her feet touching each other, followed by that one little heart attack any person would feel when they'd lose their balance. There was nothing around her to hold on to and barely any time for Kaitlyn to let out a gasp; one second later, her body touched the concrete sidewalk with a painful thud. The skin on her left forearm was instantly set on fire, and strangely enough, it did numb the emotional turmoil for the moment. But not for long though, as the pain suddenly turned into fuel for this. A hiss of pain escaped past Kaitlyn's clenched teeth as she sat up while feeling the gazes of people aiming at her, it made her feel smaller and smaller by the second. She couldn't help but glance at the fresh wound. Small pieces of skin had been scraped off, deep enough to make thin streams of blood run down her forearm and the longer Kaitlyn stared at it, the more the abrasion began to itch and ache.

Never in her entire life had she felt this small, this helpless.

The girl cradled her painful arm, pulled her knees up close to her body and rested the back of her head against the front wall of a neighboring bar. Closing her eyes made more tears spill out. She softly sobbed with a sore throat while she covered her face with her hands, feeling like the world around her had stopped just to quietly gawk at her. God, this was so embarrassing… so pathetic… she wished she could dissolve into thin air, like a sugar cube in a pool of water. This wish made only more tears spill out, much to her dismay.

Just then, she heard footsteps approaching her on her right with a slow, calm pace. They stopped once they had reached her, after which the sound of rustling clothes followed, as if the person was squatting down to her level. And that's when Kaitlyn felt it, completely out of the blue. She didn't know how at first, it would puzzle her even years after this moment had transpired, but she could clearly feel it. Through the own darkness of her closed eyes, something warm and trustworthy pierced had found its way in there. A presence… A good, warm presence. Gentle, too. The young girl could feel this from her very core. Feeling the warmth was like someone put a blanket around her inner turmoil, soothing it to an extent. It had come along with the footsteps, as if whoever was now squatting down in front of her was radiating with this. But who was it? What human being could be capable of doing this? Yes, Kaitlyn was aware how ugly her face looked whenever she had been crying, she knew the area around her eyes and nose were blotched with redness and she didn't want whoever was around her to look at it, but she still wanted to know who it was and there was only one way to find out. She opened her eyes and peeked through her fingers.

It was Dolph… and now that she could see his face from this close, she was finally able to notice how warm and beautiful his blue-grey eyes were.

'It's okay, it's just me.' he said, his voice soft with sincere concern. 'Is everything okay with you? What's the matter?' Right on that same moment, he put his hand on her left shoulder and gently squeezed it. As he did so, it felt like he was somehow pouring that warmth inside her, which managed to calm Kaitlyn more. The girl sniffed, brushing the back of her hand underneath her nose.

'I'm sorry…' she whispered.

'No, don't be sorry. Don't ever be sorry. It's good to let your emotions out. Letting whatever is upsetting you this much eat you up won't do you any good. Do you want to tell me about it?'

To him, she knew from this moment on that she could tell him everything.

'My uh… My friend has gone missing. She had come over to play yesterday and went home by herself. Then her mom called this morning and she said…' A sob forced her to briefly pause before she could continue. 'She said that she never came home last night! I'm so scared, Dolph… I can't stop thinking about what could have happened to her, I keep thinking about how she may be kidnapped by that same psycho who killed Alicia, she could be trapped somewhere, someone needs to help her! I have to go find her!'

Dolph's eyes slightly widened with shock. Oh fuck… could it really be?

'What's your friend's name?' he asked.

'Liv... Liv Morgan.'

'And how does she look like? Do you remember what she was wearing?' Like this, it would be much easier for him to keep an eye out for her.

Kaitlyn told him the most important details. 'S-She has long blonde hair, and she usually wears a sports cap, you'll never see her wear girly clothes. I believe she wearing overalls with a white shirt yesterday.'

'Alright, that's good to know. I'll keep an eye out for her, I promise you that.'

Despite the pain in her arm, the tears and the suffocating worries, Dolph had miraculously still managed to make Kaitlyn curl her mouth into a small smile. 'Thank you, Dolph…' she said. 'I just want her to be okay…'

'And she will be.' the blonde teen replied resolutely, hoping that this could not only convince the younger girl, but also himself. 'Listen Kait, I understand that you fear the worst, I really do, but you also have to keep in mind that maybe this didn't happen, you know? Maybe she isn't kidnapped. She could still be fine and could have gone somewhere else on her own, who knows, she could even be home by now. And think about this too… there's so much police in Hope's Creek at this moment, so that bastard wouldn't probably even dare to harm another girl. But I will still pay attention in the meanwhile, I promise. Does that make you feel calmer?'

Kaitlyn nodded, the small smile reappearing once more. 'Yes…'

Right on that moment, Dolph noticed the wound on the girl's arm. 'Does it hurt?'

'A little bit…'

'Let's go back, I think there's a first-aid kit somewhere in the office. Come, let me get you up.'

He allowed her to grab onto his arms and carefully pulled her back up on her feet. There was some minor pain in Kaitlyn's knee, but when she looked down she saw that there was thankfully no wound. They walked back to the bar together, where AJ was waiting for them, still sitting on her stool and looking just as worried as Dolph. As both Dolph and Kaitlyn walked through the doorway, Kaitlyn felt the blonde teen patting her three times on her back, which calmed her down even more.

AJ had noticed this too… and Kaitlyn could swear that through the sincere concern, some hint of jealousy could still be found in her eyes.


	18. Not You Again

**Chapter 18**

 **Not You Again**

It was with this memory, which had definitely become one of her most precious memories she had of her younger years, which Kaitlyn entered her motel room with while still holding her new baseball bat in her hand; for one split second, she had the awful feeling that whoever had been wearing that stale-smelling rabbit costume could be sitting on the edge of her bed and launch at her to finish what he had started. She peeked inside, slightly already raising her bat. Nobody was there, thank goodness. Kaitlyn dared to lower her bat and stepped inside her motel room; a soft click was heard when she closed the door behind her.

The two-toned woman quickly put her weapon against the nightstand next to her bed. At this point, it was only logical that she kept in mind that even when the sun would go down and she eventually had to go to sleep that it could still not be safe for her. Should something happen, then she would at least have something nearby to grab and defend herself with. Then, on a whim, she began to wonder how many swings it would take for that asshole to stay down before he could even lay one damn finger on her; Kaitlyn made the promise of trying her best not to kill him while doing this, since answers of AJ's whereabouts would be impossible to get if he was lying on the bloody floor with his skull bashed in. After she had put away the bat, she opened her suitcase and searched for dry clothes. Wearing these clothes had become unbearable at this point, as they had turned uncomfortably damp; despite the summer heat, the soaked fabric hadn't fully dried up. A black pair of shorts and a camo-printed tank top, two of the very few clothes she had taken with her on the night where she headed off (and barely escaped her raging, hypocritical jackass of an ex), would do just fine. Holding the clothes in her arms, the two-toned woman walked to the small bathroom to get changed, where thankfully no psychotic murderer was hidden there to clamp his hands around her throat. Less than two minutes later, she got out, wearing a dry outfit and despite the harrowing events of today, feeling a bit more comfortable now that she had changed her clothes. The damp clothes stayed in the bathroom, draped on an empty towel rack.

Jesus Christ, she could hardly believe that she was still alive... Kaitlyn plopped down on the bed, lying on her back as she stared at the ceiling with heavy eyelids. The thought of her being back in this motel room hadn't crossed her mind once when she was fighting for her life while the river was dragging her away. Would she ever look the same way at water again? The two-toned woman couldn't fight off the feeling that this memory would forever rear its terrifying head whenever she'd lay eyes upon any sort of body of water. She was absolutely sure that water must have entered her head through her ear, because each time when she moved her head, there was this strange, unpleasant, sloshing sensation that just wouldn't go down her ear canal, much to her annoyance. But hell, that sensation was the least of her worries at the moment.

She had looked death straight in the eyes this day, but despite the immense fear she had felt after this, there had been something that had momentarily made her forget about it; and that was that warm memory of falling in love with Dolph Ziggler, which played itself over in her mind when she entered the room.

Dolph…

Kaitlyn rolled onto her side, closing her eyes while ignoring the water sloshing inside her head. Yes, she still remembered it, every moment of it, as if it had only happened yesterday. There had been genuine worry in his eyes; it was these blue-grey eyes she fell head over heels with on that Monday afternoon. She could still feel his hand gently squeezing her shoulder, like he was there right now in the room with her. So gentle... so comforting… it had been exactly what she had needed so much on that moment. Dolph had not only been able to calm her down, but also make her feel safe. He had literally been the first guy who ever did these things to her; not even her own father had ever been really capable of doing these things for her. 'My goodness, Kaitlyn, don't cry. You're not a baby, are you?' That was usually the response she'd get from him whenever something triggered her bad enough to make her spill tears, be it that one time in elementary school when a classmate (whose name she had forgotten by now) shoved her in the bushes while walking home from school, Liv's cat who had ran away from home, or whenever another heated fight between her parents made the constant stress of living in such a hostile home became too much for her. Now that she was an adult, Kaitlyn figured that what her father's way of trying to say that were far worse things to cry about, though she had wished he hadn't said this so bluntly. Because of this, she never had the feeling that her father would be the right person to go to whenever was something was bothering her, knowing he would respond like this. And when it came to the boys from around her age… well, not one of them ever had enough interest in her to be this nice to her. This literally made Dolph the first guy to give her this kind of attention; and it just happened to be on the very moment where she had needed it the most.

That's when Kaitlyn Bonin, who was still at the onset of her puberty, couldn't help herself but fall head over heels in love with the blonde teen.

Seventeen years had passed and she could still remember how it felt like when this happened. It was one of the best feelings she ever had, it was so wonderful. A gentle, lovely, nearly nostalgic warmth had enveloped her entire stomach, making her feel like she was floating. As this pleasant memory of her first love was coming back to her, the butterflies of which the two-toned woman had thought to have died off during the years turned out to be simply in hibernation all along, as they awoke one by one and began to fly around in her stomach. They fluttered around in a lively waltz, once again producing that familiar warmth which filled up each empty spot. Kaitlyn felt all of it, she felt every bit of love she had for Dolph back in 1980 returning. Just as the warmth spread to her cheeks, she scoffed. The right corner of her mouth twitched into a small smile.

'Oh come on… I was freaking thirteen.' she softly mumbled to herself. 'Just a damn kid...' And with these words, she put the butterflies in her stomach back to sleep again. Having entered adulthood by a long time now, the two-toned woman had convinced herself that this one-sided crush she had was simply the product of the first of many doses of hormones that were bound to follow for as long as her puberty would last. After all, it was at this time of life when girls would begin to fall in love. It was only natural. Back then, it hadn't bothered her in the slightest that she had a crush on a boy who happened to be older than her. How many girls from around her age back then didn't have a crush on a rock star, athlete or actor? So what was wrong with liking Dolph? Kaitlyn could still agree on this to this day. But still, it was a crush she had when she was still a kid; it was meaningless in comparison to romantic feeling she had experienced later on as an adult.

Yes, Dolph had shown kindness and gave her comfort when she needed it the most, she would forever be grateful for that and he still meant a lot to her as a friend. And that would be all.

The two-toned woman found it almost impossible to keep her eyes open, she was that exhausted. All her energy for today had been put in fighting for her life. Kaitlyn closed her eyes and soon found out that she didn't have the energy anymore to open them.

She had completely dozed off in less than ten minutes.

* * *

It crawled its way in through the darkness, sneaking into her slumber like an invisible and settling its eyes on her while she slept. From that moment on, it didn't break its gaze from her for one second.

This was one of those things human beings could hardly explain; even if you were alone in your bedroom, the feeling that someone was watching you, be it from next to the bed, outside through the window or in the closet, somehow managed to sink into your sleep and reach your consciousness, managing to pull you out of your sleep far enough to make you feel incredibly uneasy… paranoid, even.

That was exactly how Kaitlyn was feeling right now.

A part of her was still asleep, urging her to ignore that strange, haunting feeling, turn on her other side and continue with sleeping, while her other part tried its best to convince her that something was very wrong and to open her eyes. More and more, the two-toned woman began to side with the latter. Shaking off the feeling that something, or rather someone, was watching her at some corner of her motel room had become impossible. No warmth could be felt in the room, so she automatically assumed, while still half asleep, that either the sun had been blocked by clouds or night had fallen. Her ear had been pressed in something warm and wet; the pesky water in her ear canal must have finally leaked out at some point during her nap. God, how long had she been out? That question didn't matter for one bit; what did matter was that she was perhaps being watched.

There was only one way to find out if this was true.

With that harrowing suspicion now pooling in the pits of her stomach, Kaitlyn, who still had some sleepiness lingering in her head, forced herself to open her eyes. Immediately when she did so, it was instantly confirmed that she had been sleeping for quite some hours, because the entire motel room had turned dark. Well, maybe not entirely, because there was a small source of light, and that was the light in the hallway, barely bright enough to visibly shine through the slit underneath the door. There was nobody standing next to the right side of the bed. Thank God.

Her eyes had been less than a millimeter away from fully closing until a mist of hot breath reached her left shoulder.

The drowsiness instantly fell off as Kaitlyn was now wide awake. A heavy chill that ran up her spine with so much force that it almost hurt was more than enough to snap her out of it. Her eyes now wide open and fearful, the two-toned woman turned around, wishing that the whiff of breath had merely been a fragment of her ever-growing paranoia.

Yes, it was dark in the motel room… but not dark enough to mask the humanoid silhouette of a tall man that was silently looming over her.

Kaitlyn's heart dropped to the very pits of her body.

It was a loud gasp that escaped her mouth; an ear-piercing scream of pure fright immediately followed afterwards, without a doubt loud enough to wake up the entire Pinewood Motel. Though all of his facial features were hidden thanks to the darkness, the figure was clearly spooked. Alarmed by the scream, he backed away and didn't hesitate for a single second to sprint across the room like a frightened deer, right towards the door. It flew right open once he had reached and when Kaitlyn caught a glimpse of this, she gave herself a mental scolding of a lifetime. Goddamn it why didn't I close the fucking door before dozing off goddamn it Kait; this almost incomprehensible thought went through her head with the speed of light before a switch was made. Even though she was frightened like hell, something else quickly took that fright's place.

'Get the fuck back here!' the two-toned woman yelled. She reached out for her baseball bat, which was thankfully still leaning against the nightstand. Untimely clumsiness caused the weapon to fall over as soon as she touched it with the tips of her fingers. Kaitlyn breathlessly cursed as she let herself slip off the bed, landing on the floor with her chest first and with a barely audible thud. This time she successfully managed to grab the baseball bat; as soon as her hand clenched itself around the cold wood, she frantically scrambled to her feet and grabbed her boots, not once bothering about tying their laces while she put them on as fast as she could. Then she rushed to the door, which was now open, allowing the bright light in the hallway to illuminate a large part of the room.

She glanced left and right; the hallway was completely empty, but she could swear that she heard rapid footsteps in the distance. They were definitely heading to the motel's exit, no mistake about it. Kaitlyn began the chase, running down the hallway as fast as she could with her baseball bat tightly clenched in her fists. The two-toned woman was fully aware that she was looking like a madwoman right now and couldn't unfortunately give less than two shits about it at the moment. If that asshole thought he was going to get away that easily, he would be so wrong, so fucking wrong. She was more than ready to fight back with everything she had. As she continued to run past the doors, the two-toned woman could clearly hear someone loudly mumble in one of the rooms about what the hell was going on, but thankfully nobody bothered to open the door to take a peek at what the hell was going on outside. And perhaps it was for the best; one look at the furious two-toned woman running down the hallway with the bat in her hands would be one reason alone for them to make a phone call to the cops. Kaitlyn was absolutely sure her assailant must've passed the front desk by now, because she was convinced that she had heard the front doors that were the main entrance open with a barely audible click. Damn! He already got out! This realization made the adrenaline pump through Kaitlyn's veins harder. It was on that split second that her untied shoelaces threatened to be a hindrance for her chase. She accidently stepped on the tip of one of them, causing the two-toned woman to trip and fall down on one knee. A gasp and quick four-letter word was her brief reaction; then she immediately got up and continued to run.

The main hall was entirely pitch-black but she knew exactly where the entrance was. Within less than five seconds, she had made it to the other side and her hand had found a door handle. The doors flew open, hitting the walls but not with enough force to make the small windows that had been placed inside the wood shatter. Kaitlyn immediately rushed outside. It was only then when the two-toned woman stopped running and looked left and right like some sort of wild animal looking for its fled prey, eyes widened and breathing labored, with pure adrenaline still rushing through every vein inside her body. The temperature outside had significantly dropped while she had been asleep but she barely felt anything of it. It was only then she had turned her head to the right for the second time when the sound of crushed pebbles caught her attention. Just before she could realize of what could possible create that noise, Kaitlyn saw a pair of headlights from a car heading straight towards her. And judging by its speed, she instantly knew that the driver wasn't going to hit the brake for her. There was barely any time for her to react. The small, white car, which had clearly seen better days perhaps seven years ago, was only less than a meter away from her before she managed to jump out of the way. It rushed straight past her without slowing down, sending pebbles flying to her legs and other cars. Hell, it looked like he was speeding up even more. Then, before Kaitlyn could take a look at the driver or even at the license plate, the banged-up vehicle had already left the parking lot and turned around the corner with screeching tires, out of her sight.

Chasing it would be pointless; there was no way she could catch up to it anymore.

'Goddamn it!' Kaitlyn yelled at the top of her lungs. It was right on that very moment that she was more than willing to bash in all the windows of every damn car in this parking lot in an attempt to ease her raging frustration, but she miraculously managed to control herself. Doing this would give the guests of the Pinewood Motel another good reason to call the cops on her and honestly, spending a night in jail was one of the last things she wanted. Her breath shook while she slowly exhaled through her nose. Kaitlyn closed her eyes and ran her hand through her hair, trying to calm herself down. As a result of the adrenaline's aftermath, her hands were slightly shaking, causing her grip on the baseball bat to loosen, enough to let the tip of the weapon touch the pebbles.

Christ…

It took her ten minutes to fully calm down and come to her senses. Kaitlyn looked behind her, glancing at the large window that belonged to her room and came to realize that going back inside and still staying there for as long as her stay in Hope's Creek would last was most likely a very bad idea. Whoever had entered her room must have known exactly where she had been staying from the very beginning, the chance that he would return there to try whatever he was planning to do with her again was too big to ignore. Going back would definitely make her a sitting duck, especially while she would be sleeping. But if she couldn't stay here, then where else could she go, for at least one night?

One place immediately jumped to her mind… and as much as she didn't want to, she knew that there was no other choice.

* * *

During the whole time where she had been walking to Ziggler's, Kaitlyn couldn't help but be more jumpy than she wished to be. But hell, who could blame her? It was only a few blocks away from the Pinewood Motel, a walk that lasted maybe ten or fifteen minutes, but to the two-toned woman, it felt like she had been walking for much longer. Not for one second, she couldn't shake off the feeling that someone was still following her, be it that fucking psycho in the rabbit suit who ruined AJ's childhood, the unknown stranger in her motel room, or maybe even someone else who was out there to hurt her for some reason. The latter thought didn't make the fright any less worse. Who else wanted to do something awful to her besides the only person she definitely knew who was out there to kill her? Then there was another plausible yet evenly disturbing theory; what if her assailant had been Mr. Buns without his costume?

These thoughts didn't do anything to ease her paranoia in the slightest, Jesus fucking Christ.

Each time a car happened to pass her by, Kaitlyn could feel her heart skip a beat and her fists clenching around the bat's handle, as if it had become a natural reflex. Thankfully none of the cars that drove down the street looked nothing like the car of the bastard who had tried to run her over while escaping, but she was sure that she had caught three times a glimpse of the stares of those who just happened to be on the passengers' seat; all of which had been fixated on her baseball bat. Yes, the two-toned woman knew she was quite a sight; a young woman looking like she had seen a ghost walking down the street with a weapon like that, who wouldn't think something was very wrong with her? She had considered leaving the bat behind in her room, but some part of her had convinced her to take it with her anyway, because you'd never know, right? How big was the chance that the same bastard would stop his car besides her and shove her inside the trunk before she could fight back? At that moment, Kaitlyn felt like it was way too big.

Finally, after what felt like a century of walking to her, Kaitlyn saw the bar ahead of her in the distance, much to her relief. When she was three and a half meters away from Ziggler's, she saw that a black van had been parked right in front of the main entrance. The vehicle's back doors had been opened and it only took one glance to see that sound equipment, along with countless amounts of black cables, was inside of it. Right on that moment, a man who was definitely in his late thirties, with long dark brown hair, neatly trimmed facial hair and dressed in a dark purple leather jacket, tight leopard-printed pants and black boots walked out of Ziggler's. He didn't notice Kaitlyn approaching, walking straight to the van, hopping inside and coming out carrying a heavy-looking stereo box. He was just about to get back on the pavement when the two-toned woman was close enough for him to notice her. At first it seemed like he thought there was nothing unusual about her, until he laid eyes upon the baseball bat in her hand. That's when he blinked his blue-grey eyes in surprise.

'Damn, lady!' he exclaimed while quickly putting the stereo box back inside the van. 'If you want an autograph from me that badly, I'll give one to you. Just calm down, okay?'

It didn't take long for Kaitlyn to understand what he meant. 'No no, w-wait! It's not what it looks like, I'm not going to harm you, I swear!' she said with an apologetic tone in her voice.

For a little moment it looked like the man was a bit hesitant to believe her, but then decided to get closer to her anyway. 'Thank goodness about that.' He chuckled and pointed at his face. 'The people want to see this pretty face tonight, you know? Couldn't draw in a lot of audience if it's all bashed in and shit, now could I? Hey, wait a second… Aren't you that girl who was here earlier today? You had been talking to Dolph, right?'

'Uh… Yeah...'

'I heard him saying your name. Wasn't it Kaitlyn?'

The two-toned woman silently nodded.

'And does your last name happen to be Bonin?'

Again, she nodded.

The man slightly chuckled. 'There, I fucking knew it! I knew that name rang a bell! You were that friend of AJ Lee, that girl who used to hang out with us all the time when we were kids! I remember you! Holy hell, I haven't seen you around in ages! Do you remember me? You want me to give you a hint?'

No, maybe later, if she had gotten his name wrong. Kaitlyn stared at his face, digging deep inside her memories of where and when she had met this person. Now that she was seeing him from this close, she could swear that they had met at one point during her life. Deeper and deeper she dug, but when she had been staring at the face with that jaw line every man would kill for, it suddenly came all back to her. It was a vague memory, but it was the best she could get.

'Brian?' she asked. 'Brian… Kendrick?'

The musician smirked and pointed both his thumbs and index fingers in a gun-like gesture, pointing them at the two-toned woman. 'Bingo!' he exclaimed. 'Well, actually, it's The Brian Kendrick now! I thought my real name needed a little extra for me to make it in the music industry!'

Now Kaitlyn fully remembered him. 'So you did become a rock star after all! That's cool!'

Brian smiled broadly and nodded, a hence of pride clearly visible on his face.

'So wait, you were at Ziggler's in the afternoon as well?'

'Yep. I had practicing there for my show tonight. I was playing in the back.'

'Oh… then I haven't noticed you back then. Sorry about that.'

The musician pouted his lower lip, but it didn't have anything sad; in fact, it did make Kaitlyn softly chuckle, despite the fact that she had been put through another horror earlier this night.

'Ouch. You're hurting my feelings there, Kaitlyn.' Brian said, and while he quickly curled his mouth into another smile, he gave her a wink.

'Sorry, didn't mean to.'

'I know, I know, don't worry about it.' Then he pointed at the baseball bat. 'What were you planning to do with that? Going out for a late night baseball game? Rob a store? Bashing in a cheating ex-boyfriend's head?'

'It's…' Kaitlyn briefly glanced down at her weapon before looking back at the rock star. 'It's a long story. And I really need to talk with Dolph about it. It's very important. That's why I came here. Brian, I really have to go inside.'

'Well shit, I just happen to have to get inside too! Hold on a second, just let me grab that stereo box.'


	19. We're Here For You

**Chapter 19**

 **We're Here For You**

The feeling of having severely (to put that word lightly) underestimated the amount of people that would show up Brian's show tonight had begun to slowly creep up when Dolph had checked the clock on the wall of his little office room and realized that the show was only 45 minutes away from starting. At that very moment, he couldn't help but mutter a word he would be sure his mother would've scolded him for merely saying this if she were still alive, despite the fact that he was a grown man; paralyzed on her left and in a wheelchair or not, he knew this wouldn't have stopped her from correcting her son if she had to.

Not that the bar was completely empty, oh no. The blonde bar owner recognized some people from Hope's Creek and there were maybe four or five from another place, but still, it was not the amount of people that he had expected to visit Ziggler's tonight to see The Brian Kendrick in all of his full local celebrity glory. At least there would be some work for Dana tonight to keep her mind off her worries about whether she would ever find a guy who wished to date a woman who already had a child from another man. Dolph thought Dana had good looks, and her hard-work ethic of which her baby son was definitely the reason of, would surely catch the attention of any guy. So yes, if you had to ask Dolph, there was actually not too much for the bartender to worry about, but he wasn't entirely sure if she'd ever be fully convinced about this.

After all, there were much bigger problems in life to worry about; three of them being those of wondering if your childhood friend would remain alive for long enough to find her friend, the second worry being that of also wondering about where the hell this said friend could be and the last one thinking about who really had been the sick fuck in the rabbit suit all this time.

As one could easily guess, these things can definitely make a person a little bit more than just simply worried and they sure as hell kept Dolph busy today. He had no idea which one was more harrowing than the other and he was sure that these questions were going to keep him up at night, no matter how exhausted he would be when it was time for Ziggler's to close. He had actually considered for a moment to drive by the Pinewood Motel to check up on Kaitlyn before he himself would head home for tonight, just to make sure she was okay. But would she still be awake by that time? Maybe so, considering the near-death experience that had been forced upon her today. Perhaps he could give her a visit; it would give him some reassurance and hopefully her as well.

Dolph had helped Brian to haul in some of the equipment for the show earlier on to the stage and install them. After a little while, his friend had reassured him that he could handle the rest on his own so that the blonde bar owner would be able to manage the bar in the meanwhile. Just as he got out of his office and glanced at the main door of Ziggler's, he did not only see the rock star enter the bar with a stereo box in his arms, but also something that brought him a mix of surprise and relief. Right behind Brian, with her slightly widened eyes darting from left to right and her fingers loosely wrapped around the handle of her baseball bat, Kaitlyn had brought Ziggler's a second visit for today.

Right as the blonde bar owner was about the utter the two-toned woman's name, her eyes spotted him and it seemed that the same sense of relief washed over her.

All visitors instantly spotted their local hero and cheerfully called out his name, some even raising their glass of beer while they did so, like he was some sort of close friend to them. Of course Brian had noticed this attention and he clearly enjoyed every second of it, halting for a moment, smiling broadly and giving his fans a brief nod before continuing to walk to the stage; there were also some visitors that had noticed the baseball bat in the two-toned woman's hand (none of them would recognize her as Kaitlyn Bonin, though) and two of them actually took one step back, as if she ready to strike someone at any moment.

Kaitlyn didn't follow Brian to the stage. She headed straight to Dolph, and at this point, a small knot in the blonde bar owner's stomach was formed, telling him that something could be very wrong. Hell, something must have definitely happened, or else she wouldn't have come to him despite what she had told him this afternoon.

'Dolph, thank God you're here…' Her voice was soft, which only confirmed that feeling Dolph had.

'What happened? Is everything alright?' the blonde bar owner asked, even though he could easily guess.

'I… Uh…' The two-toned woman nervously looked around her before slightly leaning closer to Dolph. 'Is there an office or something in the back here where we can talk? You know, something private? Please Dolph, I really can't talk about it right here.'

'Yeah yeah, there's an office in the back. Come, let's go there.' For some reason, Dolph couldn't shake off the suspicion that whatever had happened in order to make Kaitlyn go visit him despite declining his help for the sake of his safety, that psychotic sicko must have been involved in it for sure. For one little moment, he shifted his attention to Dana, who was just finished filling a glass of beer for a customer that had entered the bar right after Brian and Kaitlyn did. 'Hey Dana, can you handle this alone for a moment?'

The bartender glanced at him for a second and smiled before wiping off the foam from the glass and placing it on the counter. Yeah, she would be perfectly fine, the blonde bar owner figured.

'And? What's the matter? Did she tell you already?' a familiar voice then asked. It looked like installing that stereo box had been quite easy to install, because Brian was now standing right behind Kaitlyn with a slightly worried look on his face. 'You should have seen her when she was outside, man. She looked like she had seen a damn ghost or something.'

'Oh… I guess you two have already met up today, then.' Dolph said.

Kaitlyn nodded. 'Yeah, only now, when I got here.' she replied. 'I didn't know Brian had already been here in the afternoon.' While saying that last word, she glanced at the rock star with a small, awkward smile. 'I had no idea he was still in Hope's Creek in the first place.'

'Let's get inside the office, we can talk there.' The blonde bar owner turned around, heading towards the small room. Kaitlyn instantly followed him, but when she had made the first two steps, she noticed that Brian was still behind her. Wait, but… she only wanted to talk to Dolph. After all, at this point she felt like he could be the only person who lived here that could be trusted. Yes, she had also known Brian from her childhood, but Dolph had been much dearer to her heart in the end.

Dolph, who had glanced over his shoulder, noticed the slight discomfort on her face and it was almost like he could read her mind. 'Hey, don't worry about it.' he said. 'Brian is still a very good friend of mine. You can trust him, you can also tell him. Maybe he could also help.'

For some reason, it didn't help much to make Kaitlyn more comfortable about this.

* * *

The baseball bat had been placed against the old, white, steel table that served as Dolph's desk. It was only when the numerous, overlapping conversations that went on between the visitors of the bar were muffled down by the walls of the small office when Kaitlyn felt at ease enough to tell about that brief yet horrifying event that had transpired in her motel room. There was still a bit of unease though, which was due to the fact that Brian was sitting right next to Dolph, while she had intended to talk to Dolph and Dolph alone about this. It somehow felt like she was giving away private, important information to a stranger. But deep inside, she knew that Brian wasn't a stranger in the slightest. She knew him from back then, well, sort of. They had never spend enough time together to really get to know each other; the only things she knew from him was his passion for his dream, being a friend of Dolph and that he tended to be show-off. That was all.

The blonde bar owner was the only person she could trust right now. But if he told her that she could trust Brian, then it must be true. Dolph wouldn't lie to her, he was her friend. So with that thought in the back of her head, the two-toned woman had told everything that had happened.

Both the rock star and the blonde bar owner didn't interrupt her once while she spoke. Both had the same expression on their face as she got to the part of the stranger looming over while she slept like a silent ghost; eyes widened in shock and eyebrows slightly arched. It may have looked a bit hilarious in any other situation, but at this moment, those expressions were absolutely fitting. Kaitlyn noticed that her entire skin went cold while she recalled the event with a calm tone in her voice; the two men must have felt that same chilling sensation.

Five seconds of silence followed when she was done speaking.

'You really couldn't see who it was? Not even for a second?' That question came from Dolph, whose voice has grown softer with concern.

Kaitlyn shook her head. 'No.'

'What about the license plate when he drove off?' Brian asked.

'He was already gone before I could even take one look.'

'And what about the car itself? Can you recall how it looked like?'

This other question of Brian made Kaitlyn dig inside her memory for a little moment. She slowly nodded. 'It… It was a white car, not really that big. It had some rust on the front bumper and I think I saw a dent on the hood. That's all I could see.'

Then the rock star blinked his eyes before slightly widening them. 'Shit, wait a second…' he said. 'I think I might have seen that car! Yeah, yeah, I remember! I just got back in Hope's Creek earlier and I saw it drive past me at one point, I'm pretty sure he was heading out of town. I mean, he was pretty much heading in that direction. And it looked like whoever was driving wanted to leave really badly, because Jesus Christ, he was speeding like a crazy motherfucker.'

'So… that could mean he has left Hope's Creek by now.' Kaitlyn mumbled pensively. On one side, there was this sense of relief, but on the other side, she knew that this could only be an assumption. But if he really did get out of Hope's Creek, how long would that creep stay out? And where could he be now? Somewhere close, most likely. These thoughts were the perfect fuel for the two-toned woman's raising paranoia.

'That's a good thing.' Dolph said. 'At least he's gone for now. But listen, Kaitlyn… We don't have a single clue on when he will be back and I'm going to be honest with you, I will not allow for you to be all by yourself for another second. This has gone far enough. You can tell me to leave you alone as much as you want, but believe me, it's not gonna change a thing. I mean, Jesus Christ, look at what happened tonight! What if you hadn't woken up in time? Who knows what that fucking creep could have done to you! First that goddamn psycho in the woods and now this! I do not feel comfortable with the thought of you being alone. I want to you help you, I want to protect you! From now on, you will stay at my place. We're going to do this together, okay?'

'Wait… psycho in the woods? I'm sorry, but am I missing something here?' Brian asked.

And then the blonde bar owner had no other choice but to tell his friend the reason why Kaitlyn Bonin had returned to Hope's Creek. He silently glanced at the two-toned woman, who in return gave him a brief nod; she too knew there wasn't a choice now. Dolph told Brian everything, from AJ Lee going missing, to the harrowing find in the abandoned house, and let's not forget, the real Hope's Creek Killer still being on the loose and possibly being behind AJ's disappearance. From that moment on, Brian Kendrick was involved into this entire sinister mystery, just like Dolph and Kaitlyn were, whether he liked it or not.

All the local celebrity could do after his friend was done explaining the whole situation was staring at Dolph, then at Kaitlyn and finally back at Dolph once more, with a genuinely shocked expression on his face.

'Fucking hell… that is seriously messed up. Shit, I didn't even know AJ was back too...' he said, slightly shaking his head. ('Seriously messed up' was one hell of an understatement, the two-toned woman thought) He then turned his attention to Kaitlyn. 'You'll have my help too, Kait. I promise you that. A friend of Dolph is a friend of mine. We will find AJ, and we will find that fucking creep as well! He's not going to get away this time, I tell you!'

There wasn't much use in protesting against the help now; Kaitlyn accepted defeat. 'Thanks. Both of you.' she said. 'I… really appreciate it, I do.'

For a split moment, Dolph glanced at the clock on the wall; Brian was nearly fifteen minutes away from hitting the stage and rocking everyone's socks off.

'Oh damn!' he exclaimed. 'Brian, you might want to get your guitar out of your van! People might want their money back if you're not on stage in time!'

'And that wouldn't be good for your business, now would it?' his rock star friend replied, giving him a wink. Then he quickly exited the office, obviously heading outside to fetch his beloved guitar.

'Hey Kaitlyn… You should stay here for tonight. Think about this; you'll have a free concert. And beer's on the house tonight for you.'

The two-toned woman softly chuckled. 'Now that's an offer that is hard to refuse.'

* * *

As if he was a truly gifted showman, Dolph stepped onto the small stage with a microphone in his hand and overlooking the small crowd of people that had gathered in his bar. It now became painfully clear that The Brian Kendrick had dropped off the map of the big leagues for a long time now. He could recognize most of the attendees by face, there was barely anyone who was clearly from outside Hope's Creek. The blonde bar owner had secretly hoped that there would have been so many customers that there wouldn't have been any space left to stand or sit inside Ziggler's, so that they would have to stand outside if they still wanted to enjoy the show and the beer, given that Brian was their local hero. Looks like he had his hopes up way too much; either this, or Hope's Creek had simply stopped caring about what little fame their local rock star had left, plus the fame that he had in the past. At least some money would be coming in tonight.

Dolph decided to not let his slight disappointment shine through as he tapped the microphone with a small grin, causing a low thumping noise to echo through the entire bar and catching the attention of the customers. Kaitlyn was one of them, sitting on one of the bar' stools with a glass of free beer in her hand, earlier handed over to her by Dana. If there was one person in this entire damn building who had earned some free beer, it would have definitely been her and her alone.

'Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming tonight!' Dolph said with a clear voice. 'Get ready for one hell of a good time, with loads of beer and awesome music, because our special guest of tonight is none other than Hope's Creek's pride and joy! He is none other than! The! Brian! Kendrick!'

Loud cheering immediately erupted from the crowd, which only grew louder when the local rock star stepped right up onto the stage like he had done many times before during his career, with his black electric guitar dangling from its strap that had been hung around his right shoulder. Brian's grin was wide; he was so clearly soaking up all the attention he was getting right now, he was enjoying the hell out of it. Dolph placed the microphone in its stand before quickly getting off the stage.

'Hope's Creek!' Brian called out loudly. 'Are you ready for me?!'

A collective, equally loud: 'Yeah!' was the response of his fans.

'No no no, that's not what I want to hear! Get loud, Hope's Creek! I ask you again: Are! You! Ready! For! Me?!'

If the crowd had been any louder, Dolph would've sworn that the front window of the bar would've shattered into countless tiny pieces.

'Hell yeah!' That was the signal for the show to officially kick off. Brian Kendrick, now having the time of his damn life, began playing the song that everyone (with the exception of Kaitlyn) would recognize as 'Captain's Hook', one of the most well-known songs made by him. It didn't last long before nearly everyone in Ziggler's began to sing along about his supposed time where he got in a brawl in a bar of a port city somewhere in Massachusetts; thankfully there would be many more songs to follow after this one.

And Kaitlyn had to admit… he was actually pretty entertaining to watch and listen to.

Dolph could see her slowly unwind and genuinely enjoying the tiny concert. He had seen her glancing with big eyes at some people who just happened to be standing close to her at first, as if she thinking that one of them could potentially be whoever tried to harm her today. But as the music went on, he noticed that she began to pay less attention to her surroundings, take sips from her beer now and then, tap her finger on the bar's counter to the rhythm and even sing along with the chorus. Eventually, 'Captain's Hook' came to an end, which made everybody cheer and clap for the few seconds of silence that followed before the next song began. Kaitlyn was cheering and clapping just as much as everyone else.

Seeing the two-toned woman enjoying this evening automatically made Dolph enjoy it as well.


	20. You Can't Make Me

**Chapter 20**

 **You Can't Make Me**

Not letting Liv Morgan become the next girl to be heartlessly dumped in the river like a discarded piece of slaughterhouse leftovers had been the number one priority to the police from the very moment she had been reported missing by the girl's mother on that Monday afternoon.

Not one person who lived in Hope's Creek couldn't think of any reason to not be worried of what might have happened to her, given the fact that the horrific murder of the young Alicia Fox still had been haunting the back of everyone's mind for days. The other fact that the killer hadn't been caught yet during these past days was definitely one hell of a reason to be more anxious. And that was exactly why Liv had to be found as soon as possible; her parents could only have a peaceful night of sleep as soon as their daughter would be found alive. It was because of the fear that had sunk its needle-like teeth in the community that on that very same night, an emergency meeting was organized at the town hall, which had quite a number of Hope's Creek's residents. It had taken her some effort, but Kaitlyn thankfully had managed to convince her parents to let her go with them to the meeting. When they arrived, she could see numerous journalists and filming crews from several news stations had already flocked to the town hall to inform the whole nation about the latest updates of the horror story that was taking place in this once so quiet all-American town that only people in Maine knew of. They had to walk past them in order to get inside and for a little moment, Kaitlyn expected a dozen pop filtered microphones would be shoved in her face while she would be bombarded with loads of questions; this thought had given her a small bit of anxiety, but it didn't happen, and that small bit of anxiety was absolutely nothing compared to the anxiety she was feeling about Liv's fate.

In a matter of time, a large crowd of people had sat down in one of the town hall's large rooms. Not one single chair was empty on that night. Sitting between her parents (which already made her feel like she was being used to act like some sort of wall between them), Kaitlyn realized how much the fear had been affecting this town. And somehow, it felt like that same fear had snuck its way inside here, invisible but large, silently hovering over the people like a monster that was ready to devour each and every single person within its reach. The young girl looked around and did recognize some of the people as the parents of some kids from her school; and those very same kids happened to be girls from her age. No wonder they all had that identical worried look on their faces, none of them wanted their daughters to be next. But then, when the highly contagious anxiety this meeting was spreading was getting to Kaitlyn, she saw one face that made it tremendously lessen.

Looking to her right, about ten seats away from her, was Dolph. His parents had come along with him, all three of them were staring at the empty stage, waiting for the moment where the spokesperson would give them the information they needed. Damn, how come she hadn't noticed him earlier? Despite the tense atmosphere in the room, being aware of the blonde teen's presence did make Kaitlyn curl her mouth into a small smile. It was at that very moment when realization struck her; a guy she had only known for a short while had been more successful by making her feel more at ease than her own parents, just by being around her.

The meeting lasted for about more than thirty minutes and it was announced that a search party would be organized for tomorrow, given the importance of finding Liv Morgan as quick as possible before any harm (or worse) could be done to her; volunteers from the public were more than welcome to participate. Kaitlyn didn't doubt one second about it. She too wanted to be a volunteer, because what kind of friend would she be if she wouldn't even bother to look for her? But then, while she and her parents had exited the room after the meeting had ended, she remembered that it was a school day tomorrow. She would have to ask for a day off… hopefully her parents would let her partake, even if it meant having to skip school for once. They had always told her that school was the number one priority in their household and nothing could make them allow her to not go for a day, unless she was sick. That's why nervousness pooled in her stomach when she was about to ask them that one important question.

'Please, I promise, this will be the only time I'll ever ask of you… just let me help looking for Liv!' It were these pleading words of their daughter that made Mr. and Mrs. Bonin briefly glance at the people around them for a few seconds, looking like they were indeed considering to let her go. Please, please, just for once… Kaitlyn had been this close to muttering these words.

'Alright then, young lady.' Her father said. 'She is your friend, after all. But head straight home when the search is over, understood?'

The girl smiled from ear to ear as relief washed over her; after thanking her father, she instantly turned around and rushed away to sign herself up at the front desk. Unfortunately, Dolph wasn't anywhere to be seen when the Bonin family left the town hall.

The following day, a well-known hiker's trail in the peaceful wooded area around Hope's Creek had an unexpected visit from a group consisting of around sixty volunteers, police officers, sleuthhounds, various filming crews from news stations and collective hope of finding the missing girl alive and well. Not one ray of sunshine was shining through the leaves of the countless trees today, since the sun had been blocked by a vast amount of large, grey clouds. Standing in the middle of the group of volunteers, Kaitlyn found out that none other than Dolph had decided to lend a hand in finding Liv as well. So he was really keeping an eye out for her, just like he had promised her the other day… you couldn't imagine how much this made Kaitlyn happy, despite the nervousness for what could possibly happen today. And it wasn't only Dolph who was coming to the community's aid today; she hadn't seen him at the town hall last night, but it looked like Brian Kendrick had also signed himself up for the search. The young girl didn't have to think twice about who she wanted to team up with.

'Dolph!' she called out while calmly walking towards him.

Both boys looked up, instantly noticing her.

'Hey Kait.' the blonde teen replied. 'How are you holding up?'

'Right now I'm just trying to be positive.' Kaitlyn glanced at the tree line, secretly hoping to catch a glimpse of her missing friend; sadly, this hope was dashed. 'I hope she's close, you know? And that's she is still alive.'

'I bet she is, don't worry.' Dolph said. The tone in his voice, plus the reassuring smile he gave her, helped the young girl to keep her spirit up, God knows she was going to need this so much for today. He gestured to the other volunteers. 'Look how many people have showed up. And let's not forget about all those cops and their dogs. I'm sure that something will be found that could lead to her, it just has to be. And she has been missing for a relatively short time, so there is still hope. Really Kaitlyn, she will be found.'

Brian nodded, clearly fully agreeing with everything his friend said. 'There's no way in hell they are not going to find her. And when they do, they will probably catch that sicko as well. You'll see!'

'Thank you guys…' Kaitlyn said with a small smile on her face. 'Knowing you two are helping to find her means so much to me. Really, you have no idea.'

Yes, she did appreciate Brian helping out even if he had known her for a short time… but now knowing that Dolph had kept his word, felt like the biggest comfort she could get for today.

After the volunteers had been instructed to search for anything that could lead to Liv's discovery as thoroughly as they could and to call out for a police officer as soon as they would find something, no matter how small it could potentially be, the search for the missing girl had officially kicked off. For the following three hours, people, alone or in small groups, walked through the woods, watching their surroundings like hawks while keeping their ears open for any kind of sound that was out of place with the nature. Various voices echoed throughout the entire area. 'Liv!', 'Where are you?!' and 'Say something!' were the things that had been called the most. Kaitlyn had lost count on how many times she had called out for her friend, but she knew she wasn't going to stop until she would get a reply or find a trace. In between looking around and calling out as loud as she could, the girl occasionally stared at the ground with the hope of finding some kind of clue, be it her baseball cap (hopefully covered with earth stains instead of blotches of blood) or even a chewed-up plastic lollypop stick. Just about anything could tell her that Liv had been here, alive and kicking. But no matter how hard she looked or how loudly she called out, not one glimpse of her missing friend was caught. Not one peep from her either; no trembling cry for help, not even a soft whisper. As each second passed during these hours, Kaitlyn's hope of finding Liv was being slowly drained away, while the fear of the worst already having happened to her began to increase. Even though Dolph and Brian were walking along with her, the comforting feeling of their presence began to fade, all thanks to the drained hope. The two older teens had been doing the exact same thing as her, attempts that were soon proven to be in vain. Unfortunately for the volunteers and the police, they too couldn't find one single trace; not even the dogs had caught a whiff.

By the end of the search, it could be sadly and frustratingly concluded that Liv Morgan wasn't going to be found here.

God, how badly Kaitlyn wanted to cry right now. Somehow though, she managed to hold back her tears, but they would surely spill out at home.

The police thanked the volunteers for the help despite the disappointing result and informed them that their search for the girl would be continued by them nonetheless. One by one, people left to head home, young Kaitlyn Bonin being one of them, having earlier kindly declined a car ride to her house by Dolph, but only because she had come here by bike; this had been one of the very few times where she used that thing to go somewhere.

'Don't try to worry too much, Kait. They will find her, maybe not today, but surely soon enough. Just hang in there, okay? And please be careful when you go home.'

The pat on her shoulder after the blonde teen had spoken these words to her before he and Brian left did miraculously cause one small spark of joy to travel through Kaitlyn's stomach, but nothing was left of this once the spark had disappeared.

* * *

She remembered the sky being light grey when she had been searching through the woods, but by the time the front wheel of the girl's bike touched the pavement in front of her house, the entire sky had colored in a way darker shade in a matter of time. No doubt that a nasty thunderstorm was going to break loose at any moment. Not that Kaitlyn minded something like this; it had only since the age of ten that she had put behind the childish fear of lightning and actually began to enjoy it whenever the sky would rumble. Each loud thunderclap after a quick flash of white brought this immense sense of satisfaction, she couldn't explain why, but it just did. It was too bad that such delightful storms were pretty rare… hopefully this one would be satisfying and last long enough to distract her from the crushed hope of finding Liv today. Honestly, it felt like the weather kind of matched with her mood…

The car was parked in the driveway; looked like her dad had come home from work. By now, her mother would probably be in the kitchen preparing the vegetables she was going to cook for dinner, she knew. Kaitlyn stalled her bike near the front door, opened it and got inside.

'Hey, I'm home!' she greeted. Her plan was to take off her shoes afterwards and go upstairs to read some comic books with the hope of getting her mind off today, but it was only then when she noticed that there was something… different.

It was around this time where her mother would be cooking dinner, yet she didn't smell anything coming from the kitchen. And just when the suspicion of something being wrong was beginning to rise in the pits of her stomach, she heard her father calling out for her in the living room with a certain tone in his voice that only worsened that feeling; he didn't sound pleased at all.

'Kaitlyn, would you mind coming to the living room?'

Uh oh.

What was the matter? Was her room too messy for her parents' taste again? Did her mother find out she had been giving away those stupid clothes she was practically forcing her to wear? Was there a death in the family? Were they going to discuss moving to another town? Or was it perhaps all four of these questions together that had to be addressed? The young girl had no idea, but she knew damn well that if her parents asked her to come to the living room, there was trouble in the air. Loads of trouble. The last time she had been scolded by her parents during the dreaded living room chat was like half a year ago when she hadn't come home in time after hanging out at Liv's place. The result was a harsh lecture of how much she had worried her parents and how ashamed she had to be of herself. No fun at all. Kaitlyn guessed it was fair, though, but anticipating a lecture from her parents was quite a scary thought for her.

With her feet feeling like weights and with her heart pounding slightly faster in her chest, the girl entered the living room, where she saw both her parents sitting on the couch, staring right back at her. The look in their eyes only made Kaitlyn more uncomfortable; they were clearly angry with her, but for what? Only one way to find out…

'W-What's wrong?' she asked, trying her hardest to hide her nervousness.

'We need to talk, young lady.' her father replied. Kaitlyn's mother nodded, her folded arms resting on her stomach; this was possibly one of the rare moments where she would actually agree with her husband on something. She wanted to run away for what was coming so badly, but knowing that this would cause even more trouble for her, the girl sat down in one of the two chairs that matched the design of the couch.

'What is it about?' Kaitlyn asked with a soft voice.

'People have been talking about you, Kaitlyn.' Her mother replied coldly. 'A man at your father's work has told him today that he had seen you yesterday entering a bar with that boy of Ziggler!'

Oh crap, she meant Dolph… the saliva the girl gulped down in nervousness went through her throat with everything but ease.

'What the hell were you doing there?!' her mother asked, the tone in her voice clearly having grown angrier. 'Have you been dating him behind our backs?!'

'He… He is just a friend…' Kaitlyn managed to reply. 'Really, there's nothing going on! He's just a good friend of mine!'

'A girl of your age shouldn't be hanging around with boys, especially boys that are older! Only dirty girls do that!' Her father didn't hesitate to spit his own venom. 'You know what boys of that age only think of when they see girls? You are not that kind of girl, we have raised you better than that!'

'Dolph is not a pervert! He's not like that, really! We are just friends, I promise!'

'And would you mind explaining what you were doing in that bar? Getting drunk?! Have you been drinking alcohol, Kaitlyn? Don't lie! My goodness! Thirteen years old and already drinking! You should be ashamed of yourself!'

'No Mom, I only drank a soda, I swear!'

'You hanging around with that Ziggler boy and going to his father's bar is already bad enough, but it isn't even the worst part of all…' her father muttered. 'I have also been told that you have been frequently seen with that girl AJ Lee.'

'Yeah… so…?'

'Don't you know who her mother is?' At this point, Kaitlyn's mother's nose wrinkled in disgust. 'She's the daughter of Roberta Lee, that filthy junkie. Everyone here in town knows that. And no child of her can be any better than that horrendous woman…'

It was only then when Kaitlyn felt a hint of rage overcoming her nervousness.

'So what if her mom's a drug addict! You don't know AJ! You don't know her in the slightest! She is an amazing person and a wonderful friend! How could you judge her like that?! You haven't even met her!'

'A scummy girl like AJ Lee could never be a good friend to anyone!' her mother shouted. 'No good could ever come from a daughter of some junkie! Look at you, her bad influence is already rubbing off on you! You hang out with an older boy and go to a bar! This is all because of her, I bet!'

'You don't understand! AJ wanted to cheer me up after Liv had disappeared, that's why she took me to Ziggler's! She had been drinking soda too, you know? And I got so upset about Liv at one point that I went outside, that's when Dolph calmed me down! They have been helping me, Mom! They were there for me when no one else was!'

'Well, we will tell you this, Kaitlyn, and let us be perfectly clear…' her father said. 'From now on, we won't allow you to be around either AJ or Dolph any longer! Do you understand?'

What…? Upon hearing these words, the girl's eyes widened with shock. Oh God, no… she needed AJ and Dolph more than ever now!

She shook her head. 'N-No! You can't! I'll be all alone!'

'Maybe that will be better for you, then.' was her mother's cold answer. 'Please Kaitlyn, you can find way better friends than them, you are so much brighter than those kind of people. Thank goodness we have found out just in time! Just to think of our own daughter turning into some delinquent…'

That's when for the very first time in her life, Kaitlyn dared to stand up to her parents; it was now or never.

'No!' she shouted. 'You can't make me!'

Both Mr. and Mrs. Bonin arched their eyebrows in surprise. 'Excuse me?!' her father asked.

'You heard me!' Kaitlyn said, knowing there was no going back now. 'AJ and Dolph are the greatest friends imaginable, and I am so thankful that they are my friends! If you think you can snatch them out of my life, you are both wrong! I don't care if AJ's mom is the local junkie! I don't care if Dolph is older than me! And I sure as hell don't care about what you think of them! They are my friends! You have no idea how much they have been there for me! Sorry Mom and Dad, but I will never, ever, cut them out of my life! So deal with it! And if you can't, well, too bad!'

Going upstairs to lock herself in her bedroom didn't provide the amount of distance Kaitlyn wished to be between her and her parents at the moment, but some other location definitely did. She was still wearing her shoes and she didn't hear any raindrops hitting the ground or rumbling thunder. Hell, even if it were storming like crazy outside right, she still would've gone out, she wanted to leave that badly. Without waiting for any reaction, Kaitlyn turned around and made a run to the back door that was across the kitchen. Thankfully it wasn't locked. She made it across the backyard in about three seconds or so, not once glancing behind her shoulder to see if her parents were behind her. She flung the back gate open and began her second sprint to the tree line on the other side of the clearing. Her heart was beating like crazy in her chest and her throat hurt with each breath as she ran across the vast field, but it wasn't because of the possible fear of either her mother or father suddenly grabbing her from behind and drag her back to the house to punish her for her rebellious hissy fit. No, it was because of the anger towards them that caused all this. They knew of Liv's disappearance, they knew she had been her only friend until AJ and Dolph entered the picture, and yet they still wanted to block them out on the very moment where she needed their company the most. How insensitive could someone possibly be? That's what made Kaitlyn hate her parents so much right now. This had been the very first time she had ever gone against their will and she didn't regret it for one bit; she would've never forgiven herself if she hadn't stood up to them at that moment.

Just as she was halfway across the clearing, the girl could feel the first raindrops of the ensuing thunderstorm that was bound to come. As she continued to run, more and more drops began to pour from the dark grey sky and in a matter of seconds, it was enough to soak Kaitlyn's t-shirt and skirt. By the time she had finally reached the tree line, the first rumble rolled across the sky, loud enough for anyone who lived in Hope's Creek and around the area to hear. The girl looked up at the trees that were surrounding her. Woops. Trees and lightning were definitely not a good combination, she knew. Standing under the branches would do little to nothing to keep her dry, let alone safe. If she didn't want to look like she had taken a plunge in the river or get electrocuted, she had to hurry the hell up and keep running.

And that's exactly what Kaitlyn did. Still not bothering to look behind her for one second, she ran through the woods as quick as she could. She knew exactly where to go. Due to the earth already being soaked with the rain, small blotches of mud were launched in the air and stained her socks. Cold rain soaked her arms, face, hair and knees, not doing much to cool her down. The pauses between the rumbles decreased more and more, the volume grew louder and Kaitlyn could swear that at one point that she saw a flash lightning up the sky for one second before another loud rumble followed. Kaitlyn saw the hill in the distance and headed straight towards it. When she eventually reached it and quickly walked up the steep hill, almost slipping for a second before she luckily managed to regain her balance in time. Once she had reached the top, she came to realize that perhaps it would be wiser to slow down a bit while crossing that bridge; one slip on that wet wood and it would be a tumble into the river for sure. As she crossed over to the other side while watching where she was going, Kaitlyn couldn't help but look at the river. At this point, it was the sound of the splashing rain that overlapped the sound of the flowing water. Countless ripples decorated the surface of the river and honestly, it was quite a beautiful sight. The girl knew that the river was going to be a lot deeper by the end of this thunderstorm; hopefully it wouldn't rain long enough to actually make it overflow and set the entire forest under water.

When she had crossed the bridge, Kaitlyn knew that her destination wasn't far away anymore. And thank goodness about that, because her clothes had become pretty soaked at this point. She slowly began to regret not taking the time to pack up some extra clothes before storming out of the house. Kaitlyn continued to run, the skies above her bellowing like some enraged monster while the rain poured down mercilessly on her.

After a little while, she knew exactly where to enter the thicket. She stopped running, turned left and slightly raised her arms when she entered the bushes. A tiny whimper escaped Kaitlyn's mouth when she felt one of the twigs making a small cut in her thigh. Her legs began to itch once they came in contact with the small leaves, making her want to scratch them as soon as she would get out. With a bit of effort, Kaitlyn managed to get through the greenery, which gave her to opportunity to finally scratch her itchy legs, much to her relief.

Their secret hideout, the one place she wanted to be at so much right now, was right there in front of her; and it looked like someone must have had the same idea as her.

Lying on her stomach and hidden well from the rain outside, AJ stared back at with her big smile, right after she had blinked her eyes in surprise for a bit. A yellow, newly-bought bag of chips was lying right beside her. And that's when Kaitlyn saw something that she didn't like in the slightest. There was a fresh, red, painful-looking abrasion on the smaller girl's left cheek, big enough to cover a small part of her cheekbone.

'AJ…' she said with a soft voice as she got closer. 'What… What happened to your face?'

Her friend only slightly chuckled in response, as if she wasn't bothered by the stinging pain at all. 'Let's just say that my mom wasn't exactly happy with me not vacuuming the living room.' she calmly replied. 'It's fine, really. She has hit me harder in the face before.' Then she scooted up and patted on the now empty right side of the inflatable mattress she was lying on. 'You can come inside if you want to, you know. You are just in time for the show!'

Kaitlyn didn't need to be told that twice. After she had quickly taken off her muddy shoes and put them in the back of _Casa La_ AJ, she laid down with her stomach on the mattress. AJ grabbed the bag of chips and slightly tilted it towards her friend, inviting her to grab one. There was no way Kaitlyn could say no to having a small, salty, delicious snack. She grabbed a big chip and put it in her mouth; man, that tasted good.

'So what happened to you?' AJ asked. 'Are your parents fighting again?'

'No, they, uh… They found out that I have been hanging around with you and Dolph, they weren't exactly thrilled about that, to say the least.' Kaitlyn mumbled while her hand dug inside the bag for another chip. 'When they told me they wanted me to stop being friends with you, I just… flipped. And I have never done that to them before! I couldn't stand being around them anymore, so that's why I came here. I just had to get out of there. I'd rather be in a tiny hut in the rain than in that house with them!'

Hearing something like that about you is everything but pleasant, but it didn't seem to bother AJ at all. Instead, she grinned from ear to ear. 'Yes!' she exclaimed. 'Little Miss Goody Two-Shoes isn't that much of a Goody Two-shoes anymore! Welcome to the world of teenage rebellion, Kait! There's no turning back now!'

Despite everything that had happened, Kaitlyn laughed. 'Who would have thought, huh?' she said. 'You know… before I met you, I never would have dared to go against my parents. But now that Liv is gone and you and Dolph are the only friends that I have left… God, they made me so mad. It's not fair. They shouldn't forbid me to see you. They're freaking nuts!'

'I think all parents are.' AJ replied. 'I mean… either they beat the living shit out of you or they want to decide for you what's good or not while you're perfectly capable of doing that already. Like, parents don't mean a thing to me. I think I will be perfectly fine without my mom. Shit, I don't need her at all. You know what, Kait? We should start living here. Just the two of us living in this little hut and no parents to stick their noses inside our lives. We don't ever have to pay rent, gas or electricity, only groceries! We could have chips, cookies and ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner! What do you say?'

'Sounds awesome! But… we need money to get all that, you know? What kind of job would you have?'

'Hmm…' AJ pensively stared up at the sky, right when a long jolt of lightning split the clouds in two. 'I dunno, never really thought about that actually. But I'll come up with something, you'll see! How about we watch the show for now?'

'Alright, fine with me.'

And what a show nature had in store for these two girls. The sky had been dark grey earlier, but for some reason that only the laws of nature could explain, it had colored into this lighter, purple hue, giving this thunderstorm a beautiful, dreamy and even mysterious atmosphere, as if this was not just a regular storm that could exist in this world; this storm could have very well been from another dimension. At least, that's what both girls imagined. They were completely quiet, both having pushed their home life troubles on the background, lying on their stomachs with each a pillow tucked underneath her chin, staring at the lightning and listening to the satisfyingly loud rumbles like they were watching a masterpiece of a movie. The rain clattered on their hideout roof, forming rows of thin rivers in the slots and trickled down the edge. It was absolutely wonderful, Kaitlyn thought. It was just her, AJ, a magnificent thunderstorm and good ol' bag of chips. Nothing would ever take that awesome memory away from her. The silence between the girls were interrupted by a few enthusiastic lines like: 'Oooh!', 'That was a good one!', 'Come on, do that again please!' and 'Holy crap!' Both girls were so excited about the entertainment that only nature could ever create. Not one drop of rain fell on them while they were inside their hideout, proofing that even though it was rather small, it could still be waterproof. Peacefulness and beauty went hand to hand and Kaitlyn, nor AJ, could get enough of this.

After thirty minutes (which felt like it had been hours to both girls), it was the petite girl who decided to speak. It was by then that the bag of chips was completely empty, only having a few crumbs resting at the greasy bottom.

'Hey Kaitlyn…'

'Yeah?'

'Can I tell you a secret? You have to promise not to tell anybody… especially Dolph. Do you promise that?'

'Of course I do! Come on, tell me! I'm all ears!'

'Well, you know…' AJ smiled and looked away. A soft shade of red colored both her cheeks. 'I… Oh jeez, it's so weird to admit it… I have… Okay, I'll just spit it out. I have a crush on Dolph! Like, for a really long time.'

There wasn't much surprise there, honestly, but Kaitlyn still slightly widened her eyes. 'Really?' she asked.

'Yeah, totally!' Now that her big secret was out, AJ began to giggle. 'That guy is unlike any other boy I have ever met. He is handsome, he is kind, he... he makes me feel safe! Each time I am around him, I feel so happy. Like, no other guy has ever made me feel like that before. He is amazing! I have had dreams of him where we get married, have a life together, heck, one time I even dreamt we were escaping Hope's Creek together. I know it sounds cheesy, but those are the best dreams I've ever had. I love him that much! But please… don't tell him I said all of this, okay?'

Kaitlyn smiled and winked at her friend. 'You got my word, AJ. He won't hear a thing about this!'

It was on that very moment where she realized how much she wanted the blonde teen's arm around her shoulder right now… and it made the butterflies inside her stomach flutter like there was no tomorrow.

Of course she kept her mouth shut about this.

* * *

He was lying on the bed with her, in the pitch black darkness.

His breath was so hot that it pierced through the fabric of his mask. His arm, warm, heavy and itching, was draped around her waist as he kept her close to him, pressing her trembling body against him, refusing to let her go. He occasionally stroked her hair, gently and carefully, as if he was petting some expensive, rare, precious pet, which almost seemed like she was exactly that to him; a pet that was forced to obey every whim, or else it would be a hard smack against her face, head or one of her limbs.

And then there was this humming. That goddamn, demonic humming that would surely follow her in every single nightmare she would have for the rest of her life.

Mr. Buns didn't either seem to care or know that AJ was wide awake, but that didn't stop him from softly humming a supposedly soothing lullaby to his beautiful 'little' girl, all while tears were leaking from her eyes, grief and guilt numbed her mind and her entire body, of which each drop in its vein had frozen solid, trembled in fear.


	21. You're Dead

**Chapter 21**

 **You're Dead**

How many damn beers did she have last night?

That was the very first thought that crawled into Kaitlyn's conscious that morning when she woke up. Not that it was like she was afraid of her head falling into pieces as soon as she would try to lift her head from the pillow due to immense pain, thankfully that wasn't the case. It was the nagging kind of pain that was filling up her head from the moment that the first ray of sunshine shone through the gap between the curtains. The two-toned woman softly groaned while still keeping her mouth closed. Her entire mouth tasted like mud, just foul. She could feel that a blanket was lying on her body and it felt so comfortable, it made her didn't want to wake up just yet and get ten more minutes of sleep. Mother Nature was having none of it, though. Bright sunshine landed on her face, causing her closed eyelids to slightly tremble. Kaitlyn frowned, letting out another grown. She shielded her face with the back of her hand. The two-toned woman slowly began to sit up and once she did this, she gently rubbed her left temple in an attempt to hush the minor headache. Then she opened her eyes and while she looked at her surroundings, it all came back to her.

Kaitlyn was one of the few women who could say that they had spend one night in the house of none other than the local celebrity The Brian Kendrick; but she would possibly be the only woman who could say that the stay had been a purely platonic one.

Clearly this room was meant for guests who wanted to spend one night there, be it because they were too sleepy or too drunk to drive home. There wasn't any other furniture in the room other than the bed she was lying in; one glance at the bed would make you immediately think it had been purchased at a thrift shop at some point. Kaitlyn sighed and rubbed the temples over head, slightly hunching over as she did so. What time was it? She had no idea, but she could ask Brian during breakfast. She noticed that her shorts, bra and tank top were lying on the floor, not too far from her bed; she had apparently placed her boots right next to the shorts before she went to sleep. Sitting up somehow made her headache feel worse than it should have been. The two-toned woman lied down on her back and pulled the white, odorless sheet up to her chin. Staring at the ceiling, she began to recall the memories of last night.

Kaitlyn wasn't going to lie; Brian's performance at Ziggler's had been a very entertaining one. It was either the show itself, the beer, or a combination of both that had finally made her dare to unwind for a bit, to let down her walls far enough to enjoy the music. She hadn't listened to one single song of Brian in the past (she guessed that maybe her childhood acquaintance had never made it big enough to have his songs released on the mainstream radio), but while attending the live show, the choruses of some of his songs were memorable and catchy enough for her to sing along with them as the song went on. It had been a great night, really. Kaitlyn couldn't remember the last time she had gone out and have a genuinely good time; perhaps dating Bobby Roode had something to do with this. Eventually the show had come to an end. Some of the guests stayed to have some more drinks while others already left. And yes, Kaitlyn herself couldn't help but chug down three more beers before she called it quits. The time for Dolph to close the bar for tonight came before she could realize the amount of time that had passed. One by one, the rest of the customers left. Empty glasses (some of them still having a thin layer of an alcoholic drink at the bottom), half-empty bowls of peanuts and crackers and some used ashtrays were the main decorations in this setting. That's when Brian, after he had finished drinking a well-deserved glass of water, began nagging his blonde friend about helping him with loading the equipment that helped making the show such a rather small but still a success nonetheless back in the van. Kaitlyn remembered Dolph, who was understandably tired out enough already by this busy night, protesting this, telling Brian that they could do that chore the next morning. The local rock star was having none of that, though.

'Do you know how many people would like to get their hands on the equipment used by me?' he said. 'I bet people are willing to pay thousands of dollars for them! I can't risk having my shit getting stolen by someone, Dolph. And I bet you won't exactly appreciate having your window smashed in or the front door being busted open. Can't say I'm not right about that, can you?'

Wow, kind of an ego trip there, Brian. Yeah, Kaitlyn could still remember thinking that. But he did manage to convince Dolph with this. The blonde bar owner had rolled his eyes in mild annoyance and had agreed to quickly put all the stuff back inside the van. That's when it looked like he was getting an idea, because the two-toned woman saw the annoyance on his face disappearing.

'Hey Brian, do you think Kaitlyn and I can crash at your place?' he had asked. 'There's no way in hell I'm going to send Kait back to that motel. And I'd like to keep an eye on her, you know? I can sleep on the couch for all I care, as long as I can be around in case something happens.'

Brian did seem to be a little surprised about this, since he didn't say anything for a good two seconds. He then nodded.

'Look, I get it man, I really do. I don't blame you at all, I don't want anything to happen to her either. I will be around too. Of course you can stay at my place tonight!'

And so Dolph quickly helped his friend to move all the equipment in the van; both men had agreed that since Kaitlyn had drank maybe five or six beers, the chance of her maybe dropping a piece of expensive equipment was too big. This chore lasted a little longer than fifteen minutes. Right after they were done, Dolph had closed down his business for tonight and the three headed to the local rock star's home. (Since the only two seats in the van were being occupied by the two-toned woman and the local rock star, the blonde bar owner drove behind them in his own car) Kaitlyn wasn't able to remember much of the ride since alcohol had always made her very sleepy, so that meant she must have been napping by that time already. She did however remember Brian guiding her to the guest room. And yes, she had been able to undress herself once he had left. She instantly fell asleep once she had pulled the sheet of the bed over her body.

Was Dolph still sleeping by now? She could go downstairs to find out about that.

Three soft knocks on the door snapped her out of her thoughts. Before Kaitlyn had any chance to react, the door opened and Brian peeked inside the guest room. He blinked his eyes in surprise for one time when he saw the two-toned woman staring back at him.

'Oh, woops…' Brian mumbled. 'Guess you were already awake. I have just made some waffles, so you can come downstairs if you want.'

Kaitlyn showed him a small smile. 'Thanks, Brian. I'll be down in a second, let me dress up first.'

The musician nodded and quickly closed the door, giving her all the privacy she needed. She got out of bed and immediately put her clothes back on. While she did so, she hoped that Brian had a spare toothbrush lying around somewhere; all that morning breath that was stored up inside her mouth wasn't doing her any good. Her boots were the only clothing items she didn't put on. Once she was done, she left the guest room. Now standing in the corridor of the second floor, she saw that the staircase was right on her left.

The delicious smell of freshly-made waffles instantly filled up her nose when she entered the living room, much to her delight; it also made her realize how hungry she actually was. Now that she had sobered up plus the fact that it was much lighter outside, she could finally take a good look at the interior of the house. You could definitely tell that someone who had a load of cash back in the days was living here. The living room, no, the entire house itself was a relatively small one, not one you could imagine a famous rock star living in; not that it was an absolute shack of a place, but it was still smaller than the houses in Hope's Creek's middle-class neighborhoods. But that hadn't stopped Brian from decorating the place like it was a Hollywood villa. A large, expensive-looking, beige carpet covered up almost the entire floor of the living room. Only someone like Brian Kendrick would place a leopard-printed sofa in his living room; it was on that same sofa where Dolph was still napping with a yellow fleece blanket draped over his body, but Kailtyn was sure the smell of the waffles would wake him up soon enough. That flamboyant piece of furniture didn't really match with the two black leather chairs. She had expected piles of fan mail to take up most of the space on the black coffee table that was placed between the sofa and the big TV, but only saw five letters lying on the table and she wasn't even entirely sure whether they were really fan mail or just simply bills. A big, wide, white vase that contained bamboo had been put close to the large front window. One other piece of decoration that was more of an eye catcher than the leopard-printed sofa was the framed poster of a rock band; it was hung above a waist-high closet that was placed right next to the sofa. The rock band, which clearly had been established at some point during the early 80's, consisted of four men, all dressed in full rock star regalia; black leather jackets, purple trousers with fringes attached to the sides and black boots. The men all stared straight at the camera, the looks on their faces making clear they were some serious business. Their instruments, two electric guitars, a drum set and a microphone on a stand, looked like they had been cleaned right before the photo shoot took place. 'The Cruiserweights' had been printed at the bottom of the poster with a light purple, elegant lettering. No doubt that was the band's name. One of the men's faces seemed pretty familiar to her. Upon closer inspection, the two-toned woman could clearly see who it was. Holding the black guitar was Brian, whose hair had been slightly shorter during that time, but he was still easily recognizable. Holy crap, so Brian had been in a rock band a few years ago… When exactly was this? And why did he go solo?

Kaitlyn looked around at the small living room that barely had any space left due to the entire expensive-looking interior. Whatever the reason had been, it perhaps didn't do his career much good, she thought.

It turned out that the kitchen was just around a corner, but Kaitlyn didn't really get a chance to get a look there.

'Ah yes, those were the good old days…' a familiar voice with a certain tone of nostalgia mumbled behind her. The two-toned woman turned around and saw Brian standing behind her with the small kitchen in the background. He was holding a plate of warm waffles with sliced strawberries and an unpeeled banana. The smile he had on his face had something dreamy, as if he were recalling those rock band days. Kaitlyn had to admit; that smile fit him well.

'I had no idea you would ever join a band.' the two-toned woman said. 'From what I remember, I thought you wanted to pursue a solo career. I could be wrong about that…'

'No, you're right. But hey, what can I say? Joining a band felt like a pretty damn cool idea as well.' Brian nudged with his head to the dinner table, which were only two steps away from them on their right. 'You wanna sit here? Or do you prefer eating on the chairs? Either way, make up your mind quick or you'll have cold waffles for breakfast.'

Kaitlyn chuckled. 'I wouldn't mind that. But yeah, I'll sit at the table.'

'Alright. Do you want some coffee as well?'

'Sure, of course. What time is it, by the way?'

'It's half past nine. I bet you must be hungry by now.'

Oh man, she had been sleeping for so long? No surprise, actually; she had been so damn exhausted yesterday.

The two sat down together at the dinner table and Kaitlyn had to admit, Brian was not only a great musician, but a great cook as well. The waffles he had made her were absolutely delicious, you could definitely tell they had been freshly made; she genuinely enjoyed each bite she took. She did however notice that Brian wasn't eating anything, making her assume that he had woken up earlier and already had his breakfast. He did however have a cup of coffee. And Kaitlyn once more had to admit, it felt nice to sit down and eat her breakfast with some company, even if said company had been someone she had only met a few times in her childhood. It was strange; she and Brian had barely known a thing about each other in the past and yet here they were, sitting together at the table like they had been friends for years. Yes, it was weird, but it also felt very nice at the same time. Comfortable, even; not once did Kaitlyn think about being on her guard around him. It looked like the smell of the tasty waffles wasn't enough to wake up Dolph, since he only left out a soft groan and rolled to his other side to resume his sleep.

'So what's the story behind them?' Kaitlyn asked after swallowing down a slice of strawberry. She pointed with her thumb to the framed poster. 'How long have you been a part of that band?'

'I think… for about seven or eight years.' Brian replied. 'And we just started out very small, you know what I mean? Just four guys trying to earn some money by playing in bars and parties, pretty much what I had been doing at first. I had recently moved out, sick of all the bickering between me and my mom and making music was the only income for me. Well actually no, that's not entirely true... I also had this really shitty job at a grocery store beside that so that I could have enough money to pay my bills. To this day, seeing a cup of noodles makes me want to…'

He briefly paused when he realized that the two-toned woman was eating, the look on his face showing he had figured that telling her how the simple sight of noodles, which had been his lunch and dinner for almost every single day during that hard time, caused him to vomit, would instantly kill her appetite.

'Point is… When I saw an advertisement of a local band needing a guitarist, I immediately joined. At first we would only have gigs at parties, bars and events, but one night, we got lucky. A talent scout saw us playing at a bar in Bangor and hit us up with a contract. It was amazing. We actually managed to get some of our songs on the radio and sell more records than usual! No more shitty jobs, no more noodles for lunch and dinner! We got booked more and more throughout the whole nation, but never got a world tour, though. Not a big deal, I mean, we were still pretty popular here. Our concerts filled up a good amount of chairs. Touring with 'The Cruiserweights' for all those years had been amazing, not gonna lie. But then… we just got along less and less. All we ever did was bicker about stupid shit. We just couldn't stand performing with each other anymore, the magic was gone. So, in 1990, we split. But I wasn't going to give up on the music, though. I thought: 'Fine, I'll go solo then, I don't give a damn.' Sure, I still got booked for some shows here and there, I had some hit songs, I still brought out a record, but still… The music industry is harsh, Kaitlyn. Really fucking harsh. They all began to forget me. The studios, the fans… As if 'The Cruiserweights' had been the only thing that had kept my career alive. It felt like I only mattered back then, but not as a solo artist. In the end, it began to take a toll on the finances and… well…'

The fallen rock star gestured to the living room.

'I had no other choice but to look for another place to live. I felt like Hope's Creek is where I had to go. This place is my home and it always will be. Coming back here felt like I was returning to my roots, you know what I mean? I know I don't have that much anymore, but it's fine. I still get booked for local events from time to time, that's how I get by. I can't complain. It's enough to pay the bills. I'm still doing what I love to do for a living, after all.'

Kaitlyn had listened to his entire story without interrupting him once.

'Damn… I'm sorry, Brian. It must have been pretty tough, I can only imagine how hard it must have been for you. But I'm happy you can still make a living of doing what you're doing best and love to do!'

'I'm living a good life now, Kait, nothing to get worked up about. Do you maybe want some more coffee?'

'Sure, I don't see why not!'

Brian took the light blue coffee mug and headed off to the kitchen. A brief snore from Dolph caught Kaitlyn's attention and turned her head to see if he was indeed waking up, but not even a conversation that was only one meter away from him wasn't enough to wake the blonde bar owner up. Kaitlyn was pretty certain he hadn't been drinking any beer last night, so she guessed the exhaustion of last night's work must have tired him so much that he was bound to wake up late. She just hoped his business wouldn't suffer because of this. That's when something on top of the closet caught her eye… and she just had to get closer to it to get a better look.

One sole object had been placed on top of the closet; it was an oval-shaped photograph, framed in a thin, silver frame. The photograph, mildly faded and shaded with a gentle hue of yellow due to being preserved in the frame for possibly two decades, showed the face of a young, pretty-looking girl who couldn't be older than twelve. A youthful, happy twinkle had been captured in her blue-grey eyes on the moment the photo had been taken, as if she had been looking forward to that moment. Her teeth were white and straight, visible by her broad smile. Her straight brown hair had grown past her shoulders, brushed and well-groomed. The girl was dressed in a light yellow dress with white puffy sleeves and a white headband prevented some hair locks of blocking her face. She looked so sweet, so girly, so… innocent. Yes, that was the right word to describe her. The girl was practically radiating with nothing but pure innocence. And Kaitlyn could swear to God that she saw so many similarities of Brian in her face. Same hair color, same eye color, her jaw line may have been less pronounced than his but that there was still some similarity. Was she…?

That's when Brian returned to the dinner table with Kaitlyn's coffee mugged filled to the brim with hot coffee; the right opportunity to ask him about the smiling girl.

'Hey Brian, who is she?' the two-toned woman asked, pointing at the photograph. 'Is she family of yours?'

In an instant, the entire look on the musician's face changed. Not like he was enraged by the question or anything, but it was still an emotion that made Kaitlyn nearly regret asking. That emotion was sadness. He didn't look like he was going to break down in tears, but the sadness was so clear nonetheless. It was quiet for a few seconds, but the two-toned woman didn't dare to say anything, as if she was worried about triggering the first tears. But it didn't happen. Brian let out a sigh, stared down at the floor and put the coffee mug on the table. Oh dear… the feeling of hearing a much sadder story than the one she had heard earlier.

'That's Melissa.' Brian said with a soft voice. He walked towards Kaitlyn and carefully picked up the photograph, as if it were a fragile treasure. 'She is my twin sister.'

She freaking knew it. That's why she looked almost exactly like him.

'Does she live around here?' Kaitlyn asked.

The musician shook his head. 'No. Not anymore. You… You could say that Melissa and I were very close. One of those mysterious things about twins, you may think. I guess it's true, but to us, it was for a whole different reason. You see, Kait… there had been a time in my life where she was the only one who was actually there for me. When we were kids, we used to live in Elm Town with both of our parents. It wasn't a good time at all for me, but also for Melissa, in a way. I was everything but a confident kid. I was shy, like, really damn shy. In every school you have the quiet kid who can't seem to get along with anyone, spend their breaks alone and try to avoid everybody. Yeah, I was that kid. I couldn't help it. It made me such an easy target for those little asshats. Shoved into lockers, tripped whenever I walked by, rocks thrown at me, rancid milk spilled over my lunch, backpack stuffed inside the toilet, called all names you could imagine… it all happened to me. And my home life wasn't much better either. My old man never laid a finger on us, but he would instead hurl words at us. Words that no parent should say to a kid, or his spouse for that matter. There was no one whatsoever I could rely on or flee to whenever I couldn't take all of that shit anymore. I had nobody, except for Melissa. She was always there for me, no matter what. She didn't care if our father would scold her for trying to comfort me, she always put my happiness in front of hers. She knew what I was going through because she was going through the same thing as well. Well, she wasn't being bullied at school and she did have a fair share of friends from what I remember, but you know what I mean. Melissa was the only friend and support I had throughout those years, I'm convinced that it would have been far more miserable if she hadn't been in my life. We were ten years old when our mother finally mustered up the courage to leave that fucking prick. She filed for divorce and the three of us moved away to Hope's Creek. Things finally began to look up for me by then. I got into music, started making new friends, got over my shyness… It was great, and Melissa told me so many times how happy she was for me. I feel like she was proud of me and knowing that is still one of the best feelings I could imagine. All was good, until…'

He suddenly stopped talking as his sentence was halted by a sob. Oh dear, now was the moment he was going to burst into tears, Kaitlyn thought. Driven by sympathy, she gently put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a soft squeeze. It was just like Dolph did when he had comforted her once, it had always stuck with her. Brian let out a soft sigh and gave her a small smile.

'I'm okay, Kait. Really, it's fine. Thanks, though' he said. He took a second to clear his throat, took a deep breath, breathed out and was ready to continue with the story of his twin sister.

'It was until she was fifteen years old. One night she was hitchhiking home and… from what we heard later on, the driver who had picked her up had been heavily intoxicated. At some point, he lost control over the vehicle and they crashed against a tree. The driver had died on impact, thankfully Melissa managed to crawl out. But the crash had been devastating enough to mangle her entire body. When we saw her in the hospital, her face was so badly disfigured that she was hardly recognizable. For five… For five days Melissa had suffered pain beyond imagination, despite the painkillers the doctors had given her. I watched and heard her cry… all I could do was speak to her, since touching her would only cause more pain. I was there when she was suffering and I was there on the day when she died. On that very same day, a part of me had died along with Melissa. I… I have lost so much more than only my twin sister. I had lost my closest friend. My shoulder to lean on. My sole reason to not fall into a depression when I was a kid. She was gone, just like that. I was left incomplete, I was broken beyond repair. Learning to live with the fact that Melissa was dead had cost me four years of my life. It was only after those years that I could give her death a place in my heart and find the strength to move on. It had been so damn tough, it's still tough sometimes, but… I can handle it now.'

A few seconds of silence followed.

'Jesus… Brian…' Kaitlyn said with a soft voice. 'I really don't know what to say, it's so awful what happened to her...' She couldn't help but glance once more at Melissa Kendrick's photo. She imagined that on the very moment that photo was taken, the girl had been blissfully unaware of the gruesome way she would die that was waiting for her, ready to strike mercilessly and unexpectedly once she would reach her mid-teen years. So cruel, so unfair… poor Melissa. Tears began to slowly well up in the corner of the two-toned woman's eyes. Those tears were not only for Melissa, but for her brother Brian as well. Nobody should ever go through something like this, especially after such a rough childhood.

Brian nodded. 'Yeah… but I'd like to think that she is now the prettiest angel in the sky, with no pain. Couldn't imagine why she wouldn't earn a spot up-'

A sudden ear-deafening crash rolled through the entire living room, abruptly stopping the conversation and yanking Dolph out of his sleep. The blonde bar owner sat up in the blink of an eye, eyes wide and wild. The crash had been loud enough to make Kaitlyn shriek loudly. Like Dolph, Brian himself didn't utter any sound, but his eyes were just as wide with shock and surprise. The glass of the large front window of the house cracked into millions of thin lines as a gaping, serrated hole had formed near the upper right corner. Countless sharp pieces, each one of them different in size, rained down upon the carpet and instantly turned into a hazard to walk on.

'What the fuck?!' Dolph shouted. He threw the blanket off him and got up, only able to make three small steps due to the glass. Despite all the cracks that had formed in the window, he could still manage to get a look outside; the same went for Kaitlyn and Brian as well.

Parked outside, two and half meters away from the house, was a small white car that had seen better days nearly a decade ago, with its bumper richly covered in rusty spots. Even the basketball-sized dent on the hood could be seen from this distance.

Then, as if whoever had destroyed Brian's window and rushed back behind the wheel had spotted the furious local celebrity running towards the hallway to sprint outside and drag the bastard out of that rusty wreck, he sped off with screeching tires, the sound echoing throughout the entire street like a shrill scream. By the time Brian could even twist the doorknob of his front door, the car had already rushed through the street, out of sight.

There had been this other sound, which had been overlapped by the sound of shattering earlier. A muffled thump, to be exact. And the source of both of these noises was lying on the carpet in the midst of the shards. Kaitlyn tiptoed over the carpet, making sure not to step on any piece of glass; thankfully she was able to do so without cutting her feet open. Her trembling hand picked up whatever had been relentlessly thrown through the window.

It was a red brick with a piece of white paper sloppily taped to it; the message that had been written on with a thick, black marker successfully made the two-toned woman's stomach sink to her feet.

' **YOU'RE DEAD!** '


	22. Dear Diary

**Chapter 22**

 **Dear Diary**

The supermarket's glass sliding doors in front of her parted, allowing AJ to step outside with a plastic cup filled with strawberry/banana smoothie to the brim in her hand. One dollar for some delicious, healthy goodiness was sometimes all she needed to make a day a little less boring. Thankfully she didn't have to stay bored for too long today, because there was an idea in her head that she had since the morning and boy was she hoping it was going to work. Heck, she was freaking excited to try it out. But she wasn't planning on doing this crazy but fun-looking plan alone. As soon as she would be done with drinking her smoothie, she planned on using the last quarter at the bottom of the pocket of her dungarees to make a phone call to Kaitlyn and ask her if she wanted to come along with her. School was out by now, she knew, and it also happened to be the last day of school for her friend. It would be no surprise if she was going to the next grade when she would return in the approaching autumn, but AJ herself didn't have a clue if she was going to move on to the next grade. In all honesty, she couldn't care less about it. She didn't school, she was going to be fine without it, she was absolutely convinced about that. Never in her whole life would she ever go back to that awful place. Her teachers had already given up on her, the majority of the girls were absolutely horrible to her and the boys were absolutely nothing than the group she chose to hang out with. If she had to think of one thing and one thing alone that had been positive about school, it would have definitely been Kaitlyn.

Out of all people there, she was the only person who had shown her any kindness and friendship… and AJ wasn't going to lie about it; she was so grateful for that.

The petite girl looked up at the sky. Huh. She was pretty sure the weather had looked better before she went inside the supermarket. It was cloudy, yeah, but it was still nice to be outside. But by the time AJ had purchased her drink, the clouds had all packed together and turned grayish, making it look like a minor rain shower was bound to happen at any moment. AJ sighed. Not really a summer day, if you'd ask her, but it fit with her plan.

When she walked past the cinema yesterday when she wanted to get more snacks to add to the stash of _Casa La_ AJ, she had noticed a new poster had been put to display. The imagery certainly sparked her interest. It showed a small, innocent boy standing on his tippy toes and facing a sinister-looking ice cream truck, which had been mostly obscured by shadows. A dollar bill was clenched between his chubby thumb and index finger, but it looked like he wasn't going to get a tasty-looking ice cream in return, because from the shadows inside the ice cream truck, a gloved hand that was stained with blood was reaching out for the oblivious victim.

'Hmm… 'Ice Scream', eh?' AJ, whose affinity for everything that was creepy stemmed from the nights where nothing in the world could ever wake her mother up after getting a massive high and thus allowing her young daughter to watch black-and-white horror movies from two decades ago on TV, couldn't see why she shouldn't pay a little visit to the cinema for this movie. One problem though; one ticket would already be a bit too expensive for her budget, plus it wouldn't be that much fun if she'd go alone. Luckily for AJ, she had the right person in mind to take along with her. And no, they weren't going to pay one single dollar for the tickets; they were going to sneak in like two ninjas straight out of a comic book. This thought made her briefly giggle in excitement.

Only a few drops of smoothie remained at the bottom of the cup when it was ditched in a nearby trash can. AJ stuck her hand in her pocket as she approached the telephone booth that had been there since the day the construction of the supermarket was realized. Her fingers found the quarter when she got inside the booth. The strong smell of piss instantly greeted her, which made her open the door for a good one and a half inch. The girl pushed her quarter in the vertical slit, listened to the rattle at the bottom of the device and dialed Kaitlyn's number. While she waited for her friend to pick up, AJ felt the abrasion on her face slightly itching. Just like all the other injuries her mother had inflicted on her, she knew that this was only a good sign; if a wound is itching, that means it's healing. She had felt the same kind of itch many, many times before, after all. Just when AJ was done gently scratching it, she heard muffled shuffling on the other side of the line.

'Hello…?' Kaitlyn's voice sounded softer than usual. Had she been napping? This didn't temper AJ's excitement for a bit, though.

'Hey, Kait!' she cheerfully said. 'Listen, I have an awesome idea for what we can do this afternoon! You see, there's this really cool-looking horror flick that came out at the cinema that I'd really like to check out. I have come up with a plan where we can sneak in without getting caught, 'because I'm not gonna pay for a freaking ticket! You want to go with me? It will be fun!'

A few seconds of silence followed. For some reason, it did make AJ feel from the pits of her stomach like there was something up. This made the hype she had been feeling early began to slowly shrink.

'Kait… Is everything alright?' she asked.

'AJ…' That's when a sob could be heard. 'They found Liv... She's… She's dead…!'

Oh no.

Forget about going to the cinema today. Forget being ninjas for a few crucial moments. Forget this whole damn idea. Scrap it, scrap all of that shit. Nothing was left of the excitement AJ had been feeling this whole day; it had died as soon as those words had sunk into her. Those very same words had also turned her entire body freezing cold. No, she had never really known Liv Morgan, but she knew how much she had mattered to Kaitlyn. Not once during these past few days did she not express her worry about her, she had hoped so badly that the police would find her alive and well and that the reason behind her disappearance was a hidden desire to run away from home for a reason she never dared to tell anyone, not even to her own friend, or simply for the sake of seeking adventure to add to her library of memories of her early teenage years to cherish in the future.

A future that was never going to happen.

'Your parents aren't home, right?' It had taken AJ a little while to figure out what to say next, because how the hell are you supposed to react to something so overwhelming? She had absolutely no idea, but she did definitely know that she wanted to be there for her.

'No… No, I'm on my own…'

'Okay. I will head to your place now, Kait. I will run as fast as I can! I'll be there, I promise!'

'Thank you…'

AJ hung up, feeling the need to run over to her friend's house entirely overwhelm her, it even blocked out that disgusting smell of old urine that hung around her in the booth. The petite girl turned around and was about to push the door open. That's when she saw three girls from around her age standing less than a meter away from her, all of them staring right at her; it was the girl in the middle who had the biggest grin plastered on that face. With one leg she managed to balance herself on the expensive-looking, sky blue bicycle that was placed between her legs. Out of all faces in this town, in this entire world even, it was hers that AJ wished to punch the most if given the chance. As one could easily guess, it was none other than Hope's Creek Middle School's self-proclaimed princess, Carmella Van Dale.

Yes, she was a little surprised to see her at first, but she refused to give that bitch the feeling that she could scare her. AJ rolled her eyes in annoyance, mentally embraced herself for the bombardment of insults that was bound to ensue and stepped outside. That was the signal for Carmella to do what she was good at; verbally beating someone to the ground.

'See, I told you!' she said loudly while gesturing to AJ. 'I told you it was that little slut standing in there! No surprise, really. I already thought I smelled dried up jizz, just couldn't figure out from where!'

'Nah, that wasn't me. You probably smelled your own breath.' Not for one bit was AJ impressed with the words that were thrown at her; damn, she was getting unoriginal. She pointed at the popular girl's bike. 'How many times did you have to suck off your dad to earn that?'

It looked like this comeback was enough to make Carmella somewhat make her lose her cocky composure, since AJ could see that obnoxious grin slightly shrink to the size of a grimace. This lasted for a second or two, though. She somehow regained her smugness and the grin was back on her face.

'You think you are such a bad little bitch, aren't you?' she said. 'Sorry to tell you this, but… No, I'm actually not sorry at all. You're nothing! You're just trash, that's all you are! It's so crazy to think that you could ever befriend someone like Kaitlyn Bonin… I mean, yeah, she already was a loser too, but she was just a little bit less of a loser than you is. Tell me something… have you already introduced her to those boys? Have you already taught her how to spread her legs to them? You should be happy, at least now you're not the only whore in town now! Or are you jealous? I bet you must be!'

Christ, she was never going to stop now that she was on a full-on insult roll… AJ didn't have time for this. Not that she was out of insults to throw back at this stupid bitch, she just wanted to get to Kaitlyn.

'Whatever, Carmella.' she mumbled. 'I don't think you've noticed, but I really don't give a shit about everything you say. Look, I gotta go, you can finish insulting me on another day, okay?'

Only a few steps could be made when she walked away from the group of girls before Carmella decided to kick her bullying into another gear.

'I don't think so, slut!'

Just before AJ had any chance to react, the popular girl slammed into her with the front wheel of her bike. The speed had been high enough to cause a bit of an impact and yet create actual pain in the petite girl's leg. There was no way AJ could hide this. A little shriek of pain escaped past her lips before she could hold it back, and that was all her bully needed to fuel her desire to teach her a lesson about daring to walk away from the one and only Carmella Van Dale. Without any regard for the big amount of dollar bills her father had spend on her new bike, she hopped off and carelessly dropped the thing on its side. All the strength inside her was used when she roughly pushed AJ to the ground. The petite girl's hands painfully scraped the concrete, the tiny, stinging, burning cuts that were instantly formed on the palms were deep enough to draw small drops of blood. Carmella was on top of AJ in the blink of an eye. All of her viciousness came spilling out of her from the moment Carmella's hands found AJ's hair and relentlessly began to yank them. A sharp pain traveled through the petite girl's entire scalp, but strangely enough, not one sound, not even a little yelp, could be heard from her. The bully wildly shook AJ's head from left to right, like a dog who had a toy clenched between its fangs, causing more pain with every pull. AJ could only catch glimpses of it, but she could swear that Carmella's grin had gone from smug to downright sadistic.

'Come on, Mella! Rip that skank's hair out!' one of the two so-called friends shouted in twisted encouragement.

'That's right! Kick her ass!' This came from the other friend.

Oh hell no…. if that ass wipe of a bitch thought she was going to beat the crap out of her that easily, she was so wrong. So fucking wrong.

It was all just a matter of right timing. After Carmella had shaken her head by her hair for a good five seconds, AJ finally saw the chance to retaliate by using all the strength in her neck and head to break through the grip and smash with her forehead against the bully's nose as hard as she could. A sickening crack was heard; right after that, Carmella screamed like a tortured cat. She immediately released her victim from her death grip, covering her crooked nose with both hands in a vain attempt to ease the pain. At first it was only thin drops of blood that flowed through her fingers, but it didn't last long before the drops turned into thick streams. AJ took this chance to shove Carmella off; the bully was too busy with cradling her nose and wailing in pain to try to pin her down. As soon as her attacker was lying next to her, the petite girl scrambled to get back up on her feet. While doing so, the wounds on the palms caused a stinging pain to dig deep through her hands, but she managed to ignore most of it and get up. The petite girl glanced down at quite a pathetic sight; had she been in a different mood, it would have been actually hilarious in her eyes. Carmella Van Dale, the most popular and feared girl from the eighth grade and the biggest bitch AJ had ever met in her life (besides her own mother), that one girl who had gleefully taken any opportunity to bully and harass her as much as she could, was now lying on the cold, hard ground, shielding her head with her hands and curling her body in a fetus position. Tears and blood mixed with thin snot leaked uncontrollably out of her eyes and broken nose respectively. She looked absolutely nothing like the kind of girl who had her own little personal army of female seven and eight-graders who did everything to stay on her good side. All AJ could see her as was an utterly pathetic mess of a human being, lying on the ground like that and bawling like a baby with the ugliest crying face someone could produce. This was the perfect moment for AJ to turn the tables by unleashing some of her most violent fantasies that had been pent up inside her on this brat, such as yanking every single strand of hair out of that goddamn head, punch out all of her teeth, break an arm, kick her over and over again… but deep down inside, AJ knew that this wasn't the right time.

Being there for Kaitlyn was far more important than all of that.

'Fuck you, Carmella!' she instead shouted at her with a shrill voice. She didn't think for a second to look back at the sobbing bully's 'friends', who were now staring at their fallen, bleeding queen in pure horror. With still a good portion of adrenaline in her veins and her will to see Kaitlyn, AJ took off, running as fast as her legs allowed her to. By the time the insults Carmella's minions were hysterically screaming at her were too faint for her to hear, the first raindrops were falling relentlessly from the grey sky.

Even though she had been running for perhaps longer than fifteen minutes or so, AJ felt like she had been running for hours on end. She had finally arrived in the neighborhood where her friend lived and for some reason she had the feeling like dozens of eyes were peeking at her behind the windows of the houses she passes, judging her as hard as human eyes could possibly do. And hell, she wouldn't blame anyone who would be looking at her now; she was running like the goddamn Devil himself was chasing her. More rain had been pouring down during the time she had been running and not for one moment had she stopped to look for a place for shelter and wait for the rainstorm to pass by. As a result, her clothes had turned soaking wet from head to toe, causing a few thin strands of hair to stick against her cheeks. With a bit of bad luck she would catch a cold during this summer, but honestly, that was the last thing that was on her mind. It felt like something long and sharp had been pushed between her ribs and her lungs were on the verge of bursting into flames; all of those painful sensations were all worth it in the end because she saw Kaitlyn's house in the distance. Just a few more meters…

It was only when AJ's index finger pressed on the doorbell she allowed herself to stop moving her legs and catch her breath for a moment. She breathed in deeply, feeling her lungs and throat burning as she did so. AJ didn't care about it in the slightest; she had promised Kaitlyn she would be there for her and that was exactly what she had done.

The front door opened five seconds after she had rung the doorbell. AJ hardly recognized the girl who was standing in the doorway. The Kaitlyn Bonin she knew had a healthy tan on her skin, lively olive green eyes and almost always had a smile on her face. Whoever this was did look like Kaitlyn, but there was nothing left of those traits. She looked like life had given her the hardest slap in the face imaginable. The area around her eyes was reddened, her entire face had grown sickly pale and she looked like she wasn't going to smile for hundreds of years to come.

'AJ…' Her voice proved that this girl was Kaitlyn Bonin after all. That's when she noticed the complete mess her friend's hair was; she even managed to catch a glimpse of the cuts on the palms of her hands. 'What happened to you? You look…'

'Yeah, I know.' AJ briefly chuckled. 'I'm fine, really… I have looked worse before. I should be the one being concerned about you.'

Kaitlyn wished she could laugh about this comment, she honest to God wished for this. Instead of a laugh, tears rolled down her face as she opened her mouth to speak. No words could be produced as first, since she took a trembling breath before she was at last able to talk about the news she had dreaded so much during these past days.

'They found her last night… She was lying in the gutter near the pool, she was dumped there like… like she was trash! Like she was nothing!'

That's when she was unable to stand on her own legs due to the immense grief. Kaitlyn fell down on her knees, covered her face with her hands and began to sob uncontrollably. All AJ could do was squad down to Kaitlyn's level and hold her in her arms, silently rubbing her on her back and allowing her to cry her heart out.

* * *

Kaitlyn was dead because of her.

It was this thought that awoke AJ after the two hours of sleep she had last night; maybe it had been even less than two hours, for as far as it felt like. Not once did her kidnapper leave her side that night, holding her close to him like she was his teddy bear and humming every lullaby a person could think off, but naturally, it didn't do anything to soothe her to sleep. As much as she wanted to lift off that warm, heavy arm off her, get off the bed and desperately look for something that could possibly pry the boarded windows or the closed door open, there was absolutely nothing she could have done, fearing that one movement, no matter how small it was, would lead to another beating. Even when she was convinced that Mr. Buns had fallen asleep (while his arm was still resting on her waist), she still didn't dare to move an inch. Fear could be one hell of a paralyzing drug once it overwhelms you. And that's exactly what happened to AJ. Hate and disgust towards that plush monster had reared their heads many times during her captivity, but he had succeeded in making nothing but pure fear overlap these two justified feelings plenty of times with violent and raging effort. AJ was however thankful for one thing; that fucking bastard did at least allow her to sleep with her clothes on and didn't have a sleeping gown prepared for her yet, thus not forcing her to strip to nothing before going to sleep. She guessed it was because in that twisted mind of his, he thought little girls were supposed to sleep clothed, not naked. AJ had remained wide awake for nearly the whole night, afraid that if she dared to close her tired, teary eyes for one unfortunate moment, he would dare to go much further than simply holding her trembling body against his. It hadn't been only the immense she had for Mr. Buns that had been keeping her awake; she was so convinced that she was entirely to blame for Kaitlyn's death that guilt had fused with the fear. Not only was she afraid of what could possibly happen when she would try to sleep, but she was also pretty damn sure that her nightmare would completely revolve around her childhood friend's pale, waterlogged, bloated corpse floating down the river. And since this was a nightmare, her neck would've made a sickening crunching noise when she would turn her head, with strands of hair plastered on her face, her eyes rotted out of their sockets and blood mixed with water would trickle from the corner of her mouth as she wholeheartedly blamed AJ for making her come to Hope's Creek to look for her. To spare herself from all of this, the petite woman kept her eyes open for hours to come, until she was no longer able to due to the sheer emotional and mental exhaustion.

When she woke up that morning, she noticed that Mr. Buns had already left. In a whim of panic, she couldn't help but quickly check herself to see if he had touched her during her short-lived sleep, but thankfully she couldn't find any traces of her clothes being moved, soothing her worst worry. Thank God…

The petite woman had no idea what time it was, and for one ridiculous moment she actually considered asking Mr. Buns to ask if he could place a clock in this room so that she could at least have a sense of time. It did look like it was still early in the morning though, since the sunlight that shone through the beams that blocked the windows was rather faint. Mr. Buns looked like he didn't want his precious 'little girl' to be hungry during the morning, because when AJ walked to the table to see what had been put there, she found out that he had left her a croissant with a slice of cheese and a glass of orange juice. That wasn't the only thing he had left her; a lilac note was put next to the plate and even though the message was meant to be sweet, it scared and angered AJ at the same time.

'Enjoy your breakfast, princess. Don't worry, I will be back soon. You won't be alone for long!'

For one moment she considered to grab that damn note, crumple it into a ball and throw it across the room, but suddenly prevented herself from doing so when the fear of Mr. Buns discovering her having practically rejected his supposedly comforting and loving message struck her. Hell, if he would already willing to bust open her lower lip for being hesitant to play a fucking board game with him, then who knew how badly he would beat her for simply crumpling up his note. AJ never thought she would have such an insane reason to not ruin a piece of paper.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she sat down and started eating her breakfast. There was hardly any flavor in that croissant, it was so dry that it stuck against the roof of her mouth. Thankfully the cheese didn't taste all too bad; the same went for the orange juice. AJ ate all she could, since she had little to no hunger, all because of the immense fear, guilt and mourning that had been haunting her for what felt like an eternity. In the end, only half of the croissant along with a whole bunch of crumbs remained on the plate; it was all she could possibly eat.

It was completely silent in her pastel-colored prison, that is, if you didn't count the high-pitched yet beautiful singing of a bird outside. Life went on outside those boarded windows while she was trapped here… how many people would come up with the thought of AJ Lee being held captive by the same sick fuck that had ruined her childhood? Would they still remember her from the news papers? Not likely, since she had stopped receiving media attention a very long time ago. Kaitlyn could have been the only person who was still thinking of her. She could have also come up with the thought of her being possibly kidnapped. And because of this possible thought, she was dead.

This was all her fault… if she had kept her mouth shut about her plan, she would still be alive. This thought would be enough to make someone who was completely wrecked by guilt burst into tears, and while AJ did honest to God feel crushed by this, it looked like she had run out of tears to cry; all of them had leaked out during the night.

AJ thoughtlessly ran her fingers through her hair and jerked with the corner of her mouth in brief pain when the tip of her index finger pushed through a snag. What she needed to do right now was to brush her hair; she was convinced that if she wouldn't do this as a small act of rebellion against her captor, he would be the one brushing her hair and she was absolutely sure he would make it hurt as a punishment. The petite woman got up and walked towards the dressing table, where a cream colored hair brush with a tiny pink rose painted on the back had been placed for her. Not one speck of dust or a single hair could be spotted the fine bristles. AJ grabbed the brush and gently brushed her hair, starting at the bottom first. That's how you'd prevent getting your ends split, she remembered, but couldn't exactly remember who ever told her this. It sure as hell wasn't her late drugged-up failure of a mother, but oh well. She looked up and stared into the mirror. It was her own reflection that made a painful chill run up her spine. It was unbelievable that this wide-eyed, paled, young woman with her hair tied in two pigtails who stared back at her was in fact AJ Lee. This is what Mr. Buns had turned her into; a frail, frightened, abused shell of her former self, all while viewing her as this 'perfect' image of a little girl. This is how he wanted her to remain for as long as she would be his prisoner, preferably for the rest of her miserable life. Jesus fucking Christ, she felt like she was slowly turning into a doll, she realized. She may look human, but Mr. Buns was working hard on making her fully obey him without ever trying to rebel against him. He could play with her and dress her up however he liked. That desired image of his perfect precious girl he had in his sick head was entirely this; a human-sized doll that would always remain the same, no matter how many years would pass. And this realization made AJ sick to her stomach.

If only she still had her walkman, one of the very few things from her ruined childhood that she had hold onto, to attempt to block out everything she was feeling right now. Listening to music had always helped to make her feel slightly better. There was this faint memory somewhere in the back of her head, but it was a memory nonetheless. She remembered having her walkman tucked in the pocket of her pants on the night where that sick bastard knocked her out cold and abducted her. And she clearly remembered feeling the device being in her pocket when she woke up in that foul, dusty basement. Goddamn it, she must have slipped out at some point…

AJ put down the brush and stared down at the dressing table. Ribbons in all soft colors imaginable were neatly rolled up and placed in the upper right corner. It honestly surprised her that she couldn't find that one thing you'd expect to see on every dressing table that belonged to a woman or girl; make-up. Not even one little lipstick. But what did catch her attention was a soft pink jewelry box, roughly the size of a book. White and blue roses had been carefully painted on the sides with the finest, smallest brush. Just like with all the other objects in this bedroom/prison, not one speck of dust could be found on this box. Now what could possibly be stored in there? In a whim of sudden curiosity, AJ picked it up and opened the lid. This woke up the tiny ballerina that had been installed inside from her possibly decades-long slumber. Years of inactivity surprisingly didn't affect the music you'd expect to hear from a music box instantly began playing, causing the petite woman to slightly jolt in surprise. The plastic ballerina, dressed in a blue tutu and her brown hair tied in a bun, slowly span clockwise to the saddening yet innocent melody of the music, her arms raised in the air and her right leg elegantly lifted up. So it wasn't a jewelry box… it was a music box. AJ quietly stared at the twirling ballerina for a few seconds, as if she were hypnotized by the slow pace she was spinning, the music, or maybe by both. The music box was completely empty at the bottom; not one piece of jewelry or accessory could be spotted. But there was something else that could be seen. One of the corners of the pink, felt bottom, the upper left one to be exact, had been slightly crumpled, as if it had been pulled off for many times. At first it didn't really spark AJ's interest, though something else did. When she eventually decided to put the box down, she heard something small and hard hit one of the sides. Curiosity struck her once again. Closing the lid, she held the music box close to her ear and carefully shook it. Yes, she could clearly hear it; whatever was hidden inside this box was small, hard and sliding across the bottom. AJ thought it could have been a loose gear, but quickly realized this couldn't make sense, because as soon as she opened to music box once more, the music began playing again. Strange… the bottom was completely empty, and yet something was inside there. That's when the crumpled corner caught AJ's attention. Was this felt hiding some secret storage space? Well, one way to find out about that. The petite woman quickly glanced over her shoulder and perked her ears to check if she was truly alone. Not one sound could be heard and she didn't hear the door unlock, thankfully. She carefully peeled the corner off, pinching it between the nails of her thumb and index finger. Once she managed to take a hold, she pulled the felt away from the corner. An empty space below the felt was instantly revealed, just like she thought it would. She tilted the music box to the left, certain that now she could see what was hidden away in there. It partially appeared, but thanks to its shape, AJ could easily recognize what is was… and it absolutely took her by surprise and even make a small spark of hope travel through her heart, causing her to let out a soft gasp.

Round and small, it was the part of what definitely had to be a key.

Without thinking about it twice, AJ pulled the felt off further and saw that it indeed had been a small key that had been hidden underneath the felt for God knows how long. There had been hope inside the petite woman for a few surreal seconds… and it immediately died when she saw that it was way too small to possibly be a key that could be used for unlocking doors. Goddamn it… Holding that key between her thumb and index finger efficiently helped making that hope die faster. Despite this, there was one thing that remained alive; her curiosity.

While still holding the key, AJ looked around her prison, wondering if there was any lock around here in which this could perfectly fit. It surely would have to be a small lock. The toy chests came to mind at first, but when she inspected every one of them, she found out that none of them had a lock on the lids. Then where else could she look? Suddenly hoping that she had been wrong about the size, the petite woman walked towards the door and slipped the key inside the keyhole. It was right afterwards that she was forced to admit that she had right this whole time; it was indeed too small to unlock the door, she could twist it as much as she'd liked, but it didn't do anything to set her free. Fuck. AJ sighed in frustration and stepped away from the door. The toy chests and the door had been the only things with locks that she could think of, what else was there?

'Come on AJ, think…' she mumbled to herself; if she would let the frustration get the better of her, she wasn't going to get anywhere.

She took her time and laid her eyes upon every object in the bedroom, thinking about which one could possibly have a lock. There were a lot of obvious things that could immediately be scrapped from her list, such as the plush animals, dolls, fridge, hot plates and bed. And that's when her eyes fell on the nightstand next to her bed. She knew that the drawers of some nightstand could be closed with a key, so maybe, just maybe… Upon closer inspection, she finally caught a lucky break. The keyholes on both nightstands were just big enough for the key to fit in. There had to be a good reason for that key to be hidden at the bottom of that music box, AJ realized; that reason could be right inside one of those nightstands. She decided to go for the nightstand on the right side of the bed. Just like she had hoped for, the key fit inside like a glove. She twisted it and heard a soft click. It worked! Now what could possibly be inside that drawer that was so important that it had to be locked away? AJ opened the drawer, practically holding her breath.

That secret was revealed to be a lone diary. Its fabric cover had a mint green and white checkered pattern and had patches of blue and yellow butterflies stitched near the bottom right corner. One strap of fabric with a snap fastener kept this diary closed for most likely many years. Due to being put away in a dark drawer for who knows how long, the pages and the white parts of the cover had slightly yellowed.

What in the hell…?

So many questions popped up inside AJ's head at the same time. Why was this diary hidden? Who did it belong to? Was it from one of Mr. Buns' victims? Was it from that bastard himself? What was written in it?

There was only one way and one way only to find out the answers to hopefully most of these questions.

AJ grabbed the diary, sat down on the edge of the bed, pulled off the strap and tried her best to mentally prepare herself for what she was going to read on the very first page; even though many years had passed, the ink of the handwriting was luckily still readable.

* * *

 _Holy moly, I can't believe how many of those dresses I had when I was younger! I spend the whole afternoon sorting out which ones I wanted to donate and the ones I wanted to keep. Let me tell you, dear diary, I barely kept any of them. It's time to put those childish things behind me, plus I have grown out of most of them anyway. I really hope I can make some other girls happy with those dresses. I loved wearing them when I was a kid, so hopefully they will love it too!_

 _Okay, so… I couldn't bring the dresses to the thrift shop today, as I had planned. I had stuffed them all in a trash bag and left them on the corridor, right? I was planning on quickly dropping by the thrift shop to leave them there and then head straight to Amy's place afterwards. So I was getting ready, I got out of my room when I was done and… the bag wasn't there. So weird, I don't get it. Maybe it got mistaken for trash and was accidentally thrown away? It was garbage day, after all. It's just a shame of those dresses; some other girl could have worn them._

 _I felt like I was being watched when I was taking a shower earlier. I don't know why, I don't know how, but I just had that feeling, you know? I haven't had felt anxious or anything like that during the entire day. It had been great, actually! We had a day off from school. I had gone out shopping with Amy and Bianca in Bangor today, I had gotten my allowance recently, so I didn't have really that much to spend, but I still found some cool stuff anyway! I got a red shirt with long sleeves and a pair of black pants, wearing them already made me look much older. I absolutely love it! I couldn't help but wear them right after I bought them! I even got some attention from a group of boys because of it, and I have to say… I liked it. Bianca's mom picked me up and brought me home. So after dinner I wanted to take a shower before making my homework. I was washing my hair and that's when that feeling struck me. Really, like someone was standing right behind me. Watching me… I couldn't help but look around. Even though the door was ajar, nobody was there. I guess I really should stop reading those horror novels; they're getting to my head._

 _The clothes that I bought in Bangor were shredded. I'm so mad that I can't even write how mad I'm exactly am. What the hell was that for?!_

 _It looks like I'm not even allowed to wear make-up anymore. Amy had borrowed me some of hers after school and honestly, I felt like a model. I felt beautiful, even! And now my entire face hurts. That stupid jerk had been scrubbing that make-up off my face so harshly… I just hope Amy and Bianca won't be seeing any marks tomorrow. He said I looked like a whore wearing that stuff._

 _I'm trying so hard to love him again as I used to do way back then, but he makes it so difficult sometimes, dear diary._

 _Dear diary, you won't believe it! Rose, that popular girl from my class, has invited me, Bianca and Amy over to her birthday party tomorrow night! I can't imagine a better way to kick off the weekend! Who knows, maybe we can become friends with Rose! I wouldn't mind being popular. Rose lives in Elm Town, so I could easily hitchhike my way over there, I don't have a problem with that. Amy and Bianca have been hitchhiking for years and it always went well when they did it, so I can't imagine something going wrong in my case. Everything will be fine, I'm confident about that!_

* * *

Those were all the entries AJ could find in this journal; no matter how many other pages she turned to look for other entries, all of them were unwritten and slightly yellowed.


	23. Catching Up

**Chapter 23**

 **Catching Up**

 **Warning: this chapter contains a part with graphic sexual content. If you do not feel comfortable with this, skip it.**

There had been plenty of times where Dolph was able to hit the brake just in time seconds before his car could crash against another one, the result being a furious honking fit from the other vehicle. Normally Kaitlyn's fingers would have been digging so deeply into the material of the passenger's seat that the skin on her hands would tightly cover the thin, erected bones inside her hands if she'd happen to sit right next to someone who'd drive like a maniac (some boyfriend she had dated for a month or four around the time she was 23 years old was the shining example of this), but strangely enough, this reflex didn't happen once. Instead, she constantly looked around her, turning her head from left to right and eyes scanning the world behind the car's window, trying to catch one single glimpse of that damn car. Dolph had been driving over the speed limit this entire time, but thankfully hadn't been racing around with a life-threatening amount of speed. It was just the two of them in his car; Brian had stayed behind to call the police.

It had been Kaitlyn who had offered to come along when Dolph had hastily grabbed his shoes right after Brian's front window had been smashed in, more than ready to chase down that son of a bitch while he would still be around and entirely convinced that the hastily-written death threat taped onto that brick was meant for the two-toned woman. At first, while he was charging towards the front door as if the person behind the wheel was standing behind there, he refused to let her come with him for a reason she could have easily guessed; staying with Brian would have been much safer for her. The two-toned woman didn't give in though, telling him that she could help him. Either the blonde bar owner wasn't in the mood of arguing about what was best for her or he was in such a hurry to find that bastard, because he didn't say anything when she walked through the front door with him.

Kaitlyn had no idea for how long they had been driving through Hope's Creek, it felt like they were driving and looking around for hours. Dolph drove through literally almost every street this town had, only slowing down around other cars, turning his head from left to right as if he were some predator looking for its escaped prey, eyes wild with sheer determination and only opening his mouth to hiss a four-letter word whenever he thought he finally saw the vehicle, only to be proven wrong, which fueled his frustration. The two-toned woman herself had spoken less than he did. Her mouth felt dry the entire time. Just like Dolph, she was hoping so badly that they could catch that bastard. And if they'd catch him… would they also happen to have finally found whoever had been hiding behind that rabbit mask for all those years? Then this could also mean they could make one step closer to finding out where AJ could be… this thought made her only want to find that goddamn car even more, possibly even more so than Dolph did.

From the shadiest-looking street from the poor part of town from the busiest lane in the center, Dolph tried his absolute best to catch a glimpse of the banged-up vehicle, no matter how small that glimpse would be. But none of the cars that were parked on the sides of the streets or those passing them by was a white car that was in such bad shape that one glance at it would make you automatically assume that only an unfortunate, debt-ridden fellow or poor college student could afford it.

'How the fuck is this possible…?' the blonde-bar owner groaned while holing the wheel with one hand and grabbing into his own hair with the other. 'It can't be that he has left town already!'

'Maybe he already has…' Kaitlyn said with a soft voice. 'Do you think the road outside Hope's Creek is worth checking out?'

'Can't say you don't have a point in that…'

Within a matter of minutes they had reached that one neighborhood that was located the closest to the road that lead anyone out of Hope's Creek; the neighborhood where Kaitlyn had spend most of her childhood in. And of course, the blonde bar owner looked through every street before leaving. There were only a few streets that were part of the richer part of Hope's Creek, so unfortunately this search was short-lived and had no result. The two-toned woman swore to God that she saw of droplet of spit flying out of Dolph's mouth while he muttered another foul yet justified curse word. But there was still hope, though; with a bit of luck, they could still find that car outside Hope's Creek. It was possible, right? Because where else could it be if it wasn't here? Now knowing that the son of a bitch wasn't here either, Dolph finally decided it was time to look further. Kaitlyn noticed her friend's foot pressing deeper against the gas pedal as the car speeded down the street. Her childhood home flashed them by, causing an almost painful sting of nostalgia to pierce through her heart before it got out of her sight and was replaced with a blur of dark green mixed with brown.

Only now Kaitlyn had noticed that the sun had stopped shining and had been hiding behind a thick sheet of grey clouds for quite a long time. The road ahead of them went on for a bit until Dolph was forced to slow down at a T junction; much to their frustrations, the car couldn't be spotted over there either. Something inside Dolph must have been telling him that whoever was driving that white car must be staying close near Hope's Creek, because when he drove to the west for five kilometers and still hadn't caught one single glimpse, he turned around and heading back to the T junction, now heading to the east. This had to be it, Kaitlyn thought. That car, be it driving or perhaps standing next to the road with black smoke coming from underneath that dented hood with a bit of luck, should be around here. If he wasn't in Hope's Creek anymore, then he definitely must be driving around here on this road. And once they would see him, they could very likely gain a valuable clue of AJ's fate. Her eyes darting from the left to the right side of the road, even looking in the back mirror a couple times, still holding on to that small bit of hope. She was holding her breath the whole time as they continued to head down this road; was Dolph perhaps doing the same? Both of them were hardly blinking the whole time their eyes were fixated on the surroundings ahead of them. But the longer they headed down the road, the more the realization of not being able to find that car here either was sinking into them. It was just the two of them; no other vehicle had passed them by this entire time.

That's when Dolph was apparently forced to give up the chase. Loudly breathing out through his nose but not saying a single word, he turned the car around and headed back towards the T junction once more. Kaitlyn saw the blonde bar owner's knuckles slowly turning white, he was clenching the steering wheel that tightly. It soon became clear that Dolph's frustration was too big to be contained until they would get back to Hope's Creek, because just when the other road heading to the town became visible, he drastically slowed down and carefully steered the vehicle to the right side of the road. Earth and pebbles replaced the concrete and were crushed underneath the heavy wheels. They were so close to the tree line that the branches of the closest pine trees were almost touching the window of the passenger's seat. The car slowly moved forward for one more meter until it completely stood still; that's when the frustration could no longer be held back.

'Goddamn it!' he shouted at the top of his lungs and furiously hammered three times on the steering wheel with his fist. 'He was right fucking there! He was this close, Kaitlyn! He was in front of the damn house! Fuck!'

'Dolph, please…'

Yes, she was pissed as hell too, just as much as he was, but Kaitlyn somehow managed to retain her calmness; deep down she did want to yell and punch something, but she also knew that it wasn't going to get her or Dolph anywhere. The blonde bar owner shut his eyes, leaned his forehead against the wheel and breathed loudly through his nose, as if he was trying to pull himself together. Kaitlyn leaned over and put her hand on his shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze in an effort to calm him down. The touch seemingly worked its magic; Dolph slightly raised his head and almost inaudibly sighed, making his breathing sound much calmer. He opened his eyes and stared into the distance, like there was still some hope that the white, old car would still show up; though his eyes didn't express any hope whatsoever.

'I'm sorry…' he mumbled. 'I just… Right now, I'm feeling like the most fucking useless guy imaginable, you know what I mean?'

'Why?'

'Because even though I had promised you I would help you in any way I could… I feel like I haven't done anything. I'm so sorry that I couldn't have done more for you, Kait. Hell, I couldn't even catch that son of a bitch who threatened you, you have seen it yourself! Jesus, I felt like I have lied to you. I'm such a goddamn liar…'

'Hey now, that's not true.' Kaitlyn said. 'I know how you are, Dolph, you have done all you could! There hadn't been anyone else who had offered to let me stay at their place! Nobody else told me that they wanted to protect me! You have seen how far this guy would go to threaten my life and yet you immediately got inside your car to look for him, all because of me! I know you have done your best to help me, because you are an amazing guy!'

Just like he had been back then, all those years ago… he really hadn't changed for one bit; she could still see the Dolph Ziggler she had fallen hard for as a young, mostly innocent girl. Staring at his face made her remember how little he had changed despite the seventeen years that had passed. It was still that same face she had wished to gently touch and kiss when she was younger, when that wish would only be granted in a dream she once had during those unforgettable summer days. Had she also told him how she really felt about him during that dream? Perhaps so, it would have been very likely to happen. But how did he respond? The two-toned woman unfortunately couldn't remember this, but what she definitely did remember was the touch, the kiss, the confession, and the smile and blush on her face when she woke up.

But she was absolutely convinced that this crush had died by a long time now; it was something all girls of that age would experience and eventually forget about in the end. Dolph was a good friend to hers and that was all he would ever be.

The blonde bar owner turned his head to look at Kaitlyn; that's when she noticed how tired those blue-grey eyes of him actually were. 'You really think so?' he asked.

The two-toned woman nodded. 'Yeah, of course I do!'

A soft chuckle escaped past Dolph's lips. 'Well… I guess that does make me feel a little less shitty.'

Kaitlyn herself then couldn't help but chuckle, feeling slightly relieved that she was able to make him feel a bit better.

Then, during those following seconds where the both of them had fallen silent, around ten raindrops fell on the windshield with soft taps. More rain quickly followed quickly in a fast pace, hitting the roof, hood and trunk. In a matter of seconds, the entire car was caught in the middle of a rain shower of which Kaitlyn had the feeling was bound to happen at one point during this late morning. Both Kaitlyn and Dolph didn't speak one word as they listened to the muffled but soothing, even peaceful drumming that could be heard all around them. Nature could truly be a gifted musician sometimes, which was made perfectly clear as the rain continued to clatter on the car and produce that nearly hypnotizing sound. All the windows became so soaked that it was nearly impossible to see any kind of shape outside. It was still the two of them on this empty road; not one vehicle had passed them by during this whole time. The two-toned woman let out a soft sigh, pulled up her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs as she stared outside. That's when a sudden wave of nostalgia overwhelmed her. Staring at the tree line outside, where the pine trees were finally receiving the shower they must have been thirsting for during those immensely hot days, a memory of two years before the Hope's Creek Killer was spreading fear throughout the whole town rose from the back of her mind and crawled its way back up. It was the memory of when she must have been ten years old and sitting in the back of her parents' car; that day had to be one of the rare times where the family actually had a good time together. Kaitlyn remembered that they were returning from a trip to a nearby lake. They had a pleasant picnic, enjoyed the wonderful weather they were blessed with in the afternoon and the young Kaitlyn was even allowed to go for a little swim in the water, as long as she would stay in her parents' sight. The family outing had been cut short when the sun disappeared behind a sheet of grey clouds and raindrops fell inside the lake. The gentle rain shower luckily didn't worsen on their way home. That's when Kaitlyn had been looking through the window and saw the tree line next to the road, soaking in the rain that was falling from the skies.

Looking at that same tree line two decades later absolutely cemented that one feeling she had on the day where she had returned to Hope's Creek.

'It's strange, isn't it…?' the two-toned woman said, her voice softened with nostalgia.

'Hmm? What is?'

'I mean, really… It has been seventeen years since I have been here, Dolph. Seventeen years. You'd expect things to change during such a long time, right? Nothing has changed here. Not in the slightest. I had that feeling ever since I came back to Hope's Creek. I saw the houses in my neighborhood, the shops, the streets… it has mostly remained the same. This town has been exactly like I remember it. It's so weird, it's like that whole town and even the area outside had been frozen in time for years or something… Do I sound stupid? I bet I do, sorry.'

The blonde bar owner chuckled. 'No you don't, don't worry about it. Hell, I know exactly how you feel. I had that very same feeling when I came back here. When I noticed how practically nothing had changed, I thought it was almost downright creepy. I was pretty sure time there had frozen somehow.' He paused for a moment to scratch behind his ear before he continued to speak. 'No murder had been committed during all those years I had been gone, but still, it didn't feel the same anymore. Even to this day, people still remember what happened in Hope's Creek and probably still will do so in the future. That whole town still feels… tainted. It has scars. And believe me when I say that it did make coming back here even more uncomfortable.'

He was so right, Kaitlyn knew. No matter how much time would pass, not only people who lived in Hope's Creek, but also the whole nation would most likely remember the horrors that had taken place in that once so quiet, all-American town in Maine. Since everyone had assumed that the Hope's Creek Killer had taken the most cowardly way out to avoid getting caught and punished, which resulted in the grisly murders finally having come to an end, there wasn't much reason for the residents to fear for the lives of their daughters, cousins, sisters and granddaughters. But the scars of the horrific events were deep, so damn deep; especially for those who happened to be family of the victims.

'I wonder if people moved away after everything that has happened.' she said. 'I wouldn't blame them at all. I mean, I can imagine continuing to live here must have been hard. Everything had changed. Hope's Creek has entirely changed.'

'Yeah well, I wouldn't blame them either. Did your mom feel the same way when she left this town with you?'

'Maybe so, but it was mostly because she finally realized how draining trying to pretend how perfect your marriage is actually is. Divorcing was the best option for them. Their whole marriage was so unhealthy, you won't believe how it was like for me to live in that house. I hated being there. They were constantly fighting. We moved to Greene City after Alfred Peters killed himself and everyone started believing he had been the Hope's Creek Killer all along… I have spent the rest of my life in that city.'

'I bet life must have been much calmer for you there.'

Kaitlyn softly chuckled. 'Yeah, pretty much.'

Damn, now that Dolph thought about it… 'How was life for you there, actually?'

'Oh, it wasn't too eventful. I graduated from high school there with flying colors, I finally got my first place of my own when I was twenty-two years old, I had a job at a sports shop for a long time until I had decided to make a career switch and become a personal trainer. And while I had this job, I did have a couple of gigs as a fitness model, mostly for calendars and magazines. Uh, sport magazines, mind you.'

Despite the major frustration that had been boiling inside them earlier, the both of them managed to briefly but genuinely laugh before the two-toned woman continued to talk about her thankfully everything but awfully turbulent past.

'And yeah, I have had dated a couple of guys throughout the years, but unfortunately none of them lasted for long.'

'Why?'

'It just never worked out in the end… every guy I have ever dated turned out not to be my type at all, you know? Like, some of them were a bit too flirty with other girls, others would come home drunk way too often, and then there was this one guy who threw a hissy fit over me training another guy at the gym. Just petty stuff, but boy, have I been unlucky.'

'That sucks. And do you happen to have a boyfriend right now? Is he treating you better than the rest?'

'Well… About four months ago, I met this one guy during a photo shoot for a promotion for a gym that had recently opened. His name was Bobby Roode. He did move in with me a little too quickly now that I think of it, but it was fine at the time. He was a little bit cocky at times but an otherwise okay boyfriend. But then I caught him hitting on a client and that's when I decided to call it quits. I dumped him on the night I traveled to Hope's Creek. I sure as hell hope that he has all his shit packed up and moved out by the time I get back.'

Dolph shook his head in disapproval. 'What an ass.' he replied. 'You're much better off without a guy like him. Good thing you left him.'

'Yeah, I know. He isn't worth my time any longer. But enough about me. What about you, Dolph? How has life been treating you for seventeen years?'

Man oh man, was she going to be in for it; Dolph just hoped that his story wasn't going to depress her too much. But she had the right to know about his past, that was for sure. Because after all, she had enough trust in him to tell about not only her life after Hope's Creek, but also about her failed relationships; something anyone wouldn't prefer to open up about, and yet she did, because she trusted him. The blonde bar owner cleared his throat for a second before he started to speak.

'Things weren't getting any better between me and my old man. I didn't want to work at the bar for the rest of my life, I wanted to get away. I was so sick of being at bar and around my father. And I guess he couldn't stand me either, because he practically forced me to join the military. It was fine with me, I mean, at that point I'd much rather go there than stay at Ziggler's. It went well, until I got into a fight with this dipshit who knew what had happened in Hope's Creek. He must have known what had happened to AJ by reading the news paper. I can't even repeat the shit he had been saying about her without getting mad again. I beat the ever-living fuck out of him and I still don't regret it to this day. I was kicked out before I could even finish my training. My old man refused to let me go back home to Hope's Creek. I did have a place to stay at though, so that wasn't really a big deal. I made my own money. But when I was fired from my job at a construction site… things went pretty fucking sour for me. I became an alcoholic, Kait. I couldn't function at all without drinking five bottles of beer in the morning.'

'Dolph… Jesus Christ, I had no idea…'

'I was on the verge of getting evicted from my apartment thanks to all that. That's when I realized I had to get my shit together and decided to stay at a clinic for alcoholics. Going there was probably the best decision I have made in my entire life. I finally got the help I needed and got out after three, four months. Ever since that day, I have remained sober. Everything was great for those following years, I had jobs. Sure, money was tight at times, but I still managed, it was no problem. Then my father suddenly passed away and I found out that he wanted me to take over Ziggler's. And so I did. I moved back to Hope's Creek and did my best to make the best of it. And no, even then I didn't drink any alcohol. Things were going pretty well for a year of two... but the whole business was going downhill more and more, no matter how hard I tried to get more customers. I have tried everything, believe me. It's a goddamn miracle that I wasn't forced to close down the bar during those three years, but as it looks like right now, I'm convinced that Ziggler's is fucked. It's not going to last for another year. As you know, my mother passed away this February, and that's when I decided to make plans on selling the business and leaving this town. I have no longer any reason to stay in Hope's Creek. I have nothing to lose anymore. My savings have never been this low and the only way to make sure I won't end up in the gutter is to sell Ziggler's.'

Then, for some reason, Dolph began to smile broadly and briefly chuckle, making Kaitlyn frown in slight confusion. What was so hilarious about this? Listening to Dolph's past made her almost feel guilty about telling her own story, which in comparison to his, was far, far less tragic. Being unlucky when it came to long-lasting relationships was absolutely nothing compared to struggling with alcoholism. Most of her childhood friend's past had been one big struggle, so what could possibly still make him somehow laugh at the end of it?

'But you know, Kait?' he asked. 'There's only one good thing about not having left yet…'

The two-toned woman was sincerely curious about the answer. 'What is it?'

That's when that twinkle she knew so well appeared in the corner of his right eye. Dolph looked her straight in the eyes with that same smile still on his face. 'You.'

Sheer surprise struck her as she blinked her widened eyes and a soft blush instantly appeared on her cheeks. Her mouth had been slightly opened as she desperately tried for words to reply with, but it was almost impossible to find any. The butterflies that she had put back to sleep yesterday in the motel room when she recalled that silly childhood crush were jolted awake and were now no longer flying around inside her stomach in a calm waltz, but with the pace of a raging storm; all those butterflies formed a storm of vibrant colors. Oh God, she was feeling every bit of it, this was too embarrassing for words! Kaitlyn desperately tried her best to suppress his overwhelming feeling and kept on trying to come up with what to say to him. Luckily she was able to succeed in the latter, but not so much in the former.

'Really?' she said, trying to hide that one little tremble in her voice. 'Am I… Am I really that important to you? Even after all these years? Are you seriously willing to stay longer because of me?'

Dolph nodded. 'Yeah, definitely. Kaitlyn… I don't care for how long you will have to stay in Hope's Creek, I will stay to help and protect you. You have mattered to me back then and you still do right now. I have been worrying like hell about you lately, more than all the shit that is currently going on in my life. Do you know why? Because you... you are the one person who matters the most to me.'

Yes, things may have mostly remained the same in Hope's Creek while almost two decades had passed, but something in Dolph's eyes had definitely changed now that Kaitlyn was back. It was crazy how some things can spontaneously change when you'd least expect it. Dolph had never forgotten about Kaitlyn Bonin; throughout all those years, he could still remember how she had looked like back then. Never, not once, did he have had romantic feelings for her in that summer. Those reasons were exactly the same as it had been with AJ Lee; he only saw her as another little sister, simple as that. Nothing would ever make him feel otherwise about her, he had always been convinced of that... that was, until last night. So much of her appearance had changed now that she was an adult. Those thick, blonde streaks in her hair, her arms that had gained more muscle thanks to her job as a personal trainer; who'd ever know these features would look so great on her? And then there was her personality. Never in his whole life had Dolph met a woman who was like her; she was brave enough to venture out all by herself to find AJ, she was willing to go through whatever kind of hell was in store for her, all for the sake of her friend, and she so determined that she wasn't even going to back down after a murder attempt that was meant for her. Those were traits from a woman that the blonde bar owner could definitely admire. It was honest to God incredible to see that Kaitlyn Bonin, that young girl he got to know in the summer of 1980 had grown up to become someone so… amazing. He had realized all of this last night during the show when he had taken a moment to stare at her. Watching her unwind after everything she had gone through made him feel like he had accomplished something wonderful, he felt like she had absolutely deserved it. Then, while he was watching her smile and applaud after one of Brian's songs had ended. It struck him completely by surprise, and he admitted it, he was a bit shocked about it, but there was no way he could possibly lie about it. Dear God… she was stunningly beautiful when she was smiling.

Dolph couldn't help himself but unexpectedly, hopelessly and shamelessly fall in love with Kaitlyn that night.

He had verbally expressed these new, genuine feelings in the best way he could do; confessing something like this to women had never been his strongest point. So that's when he decided to make it clear to her in the best way he could imagine. Hoping that she wasn't going to flinch away, he didn't speak one word as he gently took a hold of the two-toned woman's hand, but not daring to slightly squeeze it. Dolph could swear that his heart was going to jump out of his chest at this point. He heard a soft gasp coming from Kaitlyn when he did this. Like he didn't dare to say anything, he stared at her, hoping from the bottom of his rapidly beating heart that she wasn't going to freak out. She stared right back at him, eyes widened with surprise and a soft blush coloring her cheeks.

It was completely silent inside the car for a few seconds, if you didn't count the clattering rain as a sound.

'I have never forgotten about you…' Kaitlyn said with a barely audible voice.

She truly never had; she had always remembered Dolph Ziggler as the very first guy who had been nice to her and thus as the first crush she ever had. Even way after the supposed Hope's Creek Killer had died and she was trying her best to adjust to her new life in a new city where she didn't know anyone besides her mother, her stomach would still be filled up by butterflies whenever she was wondering about how Dolph was doing in her hometown, until she had reached the age of where she had successfully (which now clearly turned out to be the opposite) convinced herself that this crush had been a simple fluke any teen girl would experience. It was all coming back once more, far stronger than it did when it reappeared in the motel room, and there was no way she was able to suppress it. Not only were the butterflies in her stomach swarming around in a brightly-colored hurricane, but they were also screaming at her to no longer hold back, since these feelings were real and always had been real. Staring at those lovely blue-grey eyes that had made her feel like she was floating in the past only made the flaming love increase by tenfold. That's when she remembered a certain occasion that had made her think of those eyes. It was when she met Bobby for the first time; at one point she got a good view on his eye color, which like Dolph, were beautifully blue-grey. She couldn't have helped but be reminded of her childhood crush at that moment. Had this been one of the things that had made her fall in love with Bobby? Most likely so, now that she thought about it. She had to be dreaming, it just had to be.

But hey… if this truly was a dream, then she sure as hell didn't want to wake up.

Finally, after all this time, Kaitlyn fully gave in; the same went for Dolph as well.

It was the two-toned woman who made the first move. Her seatbelt was unfastened with a brief click before she leaned over far enough to catch Dolph's lips in their very first kiss, closing her eyes while she was at it. There had been little to no hesitation when she went for it, carefully pressing her soft lips against his. While a warm glow spread through his entire abdomen like a bright sun, the blonde bar owner let out a short hum, immediately surrendering himself for what he had been hoping for. He closed his eyes, wholeheartedly welcoming the kiss. His hands went for her left cheek, which upon finding, brushed two locks of hair out of the way before they could gently caress those soft patches of reddened skin. So this is what it could have felt like all this time, Kaitlyn came to realize. If she had known that kissing him would feel this good even back in 1980, then she must have missed out on something wonderful; thank God she was still able to experience it after all. Stars shone brightly and died a spectacular death behind the newly-formed lovers closed eyes as the kiss filled them to the brim with pure bliss. But as wonderful as it was, both of them soon needed air. Their lips parted after a good ten seconds after meeting each other for the first time with a wet pop. Dolph saw the tip of Kaitlyn's top running across her lower lip as she was softly gasping for air; for some reason, this made a small jolt traveling all the way south. He could swear that his cheeks were about to burst into flames at any second. One kiss was far from enough of expressing their burning love. Right after the lovers had breathed in enough air, they went in for another one. Something changed not long after their lips were reconnected; it grew deeper, hotter. It didn't last long before Dolph dared to push the tip of his tongue inside. The two-toned woman gladly accepted it, allowing him to push it further and brushing against it with her own tongue; both tongues were soon caught in a passionate dance. Not for one second could they get enough of this. So good, oh God, this was so good…

Pure love and raw passion were burning like a wildfire inside the car and there was no possibly to tame it down. Their second kiss was abruptly ended when Dolph came up with another spot on Kaitlyn's body to put his lips on. They quickly found her neck when he gently titled her head for better access, which the two-toned woman gladly allowed him to. He made sure not to bruise the delicate skin; the kisses he planted on it were pleasantly firm. Kaitlyn's mouth curled itself into a delighted smile as she let her new lover give her neck all the love and attention it needed, stroking the back of his head while he did this. That's when she felt one of his hands slowly moving down from her cheek, to her neck, to her shoulder and, before hesitating for a split second, stopping on her breast and proceeding to massage it by slowly rotating it. The two-toned woman's mouth parted to let out a shivering breath, the thought of moving that hand away being the last thing that was on her mind. She let him do all of these delightful things to her for what felt like an eternity.

Eventually Dolph decided to stop and look back up, catching Kaitlyn staring back at him with eyes that were filled with just as much burning lust as his were.

'I want you…' she whispered.

She had no idea how badly he wanted her too. Dolph didn't think twice about unlocking his seatbelt and leaning over to look for the plastic wheel that was attached to right side of the passenger's seat. He found it and twisted it like his life depended on it. The back of the seat lowered down until it was positioned flat enough. Then he gently pushed the two-toned woman on her back, making her lie down. Oh yes, Kaitlyn knew exactly what was coming when she saw the tent that had formed inside Dolph's pants as he scooted over to her… and she didn't have one single problem with it.

Now the blonde bar owner's back was touching the roof of his car as his fingers had found the zipper of her shorts. Immediately after he had pulled the zipper all the way down, the shorts were swiftly pulled off and landed near the bottom of the seat. Her panties followed soon afterwards. Normally Kaitlyn would feel a bit shy whenever her bare lower body would be exposed to a man whenever she would make love for the first time in the beginning of every relationship she had, but with Dolph, she didn't feel like that at all, as if they had done it many times before. Laying eyes upon the wet goodness that was waiting for him almost drove Dolph mad with passion. He pulled his own zipper down, finally freeing his fully erected manhood. He hovered over her, making her to automatically slightly lift up and spread her legs as far as the limited space allowed her to. Then he began to push it in until it was fully buried inside her, causing a little hiss of minor pain to come out Kaitlyn's mouth; it had been a while, after all.

'You okay?' Dolph asked, his voice grown hoarse with passion.

The two-toned woman gave him a small smile and nodded. 'Yeah, it's fine. Please… don't stop…'

Despite being in such a small space, there was luckily enough room for Dolph to make proper thrusting motions. He started out slow, making sure she would get used to the size. There will still a little bit of pain left, but it wasn't painful enough for her to produce any pained, small noises. Dolph's face was buried in her neck, letting his hot breath wash over the skin he had kissed so tenderly earlier. Faint creaking could be heard as the pace slowly began to increase more and more. Not one trace of pain was left, washed away by rising pleasure, which only increased more and more with each second that passed. Kaitlyn closed her eyes as she felt a delightful kind of pressure beginning to build up between her legs. It didn't last long at all before she was sweetly moaning underneath Dolph. Her arms wrapped around his chest, urging him to go faster, to which he gladly obliged. Ragged breathing, kisses and licks were all felt on the two-toned woman's neck. The pace in which Dolph was thrusting was perfect, it was more than enough to give both lovers an immense amount of pleasure. Skin was slapping against skin, overlapping the sound of the clattering rain outside. The blonde bar owner raised his head to plant another passionate kiss on her lips as one single drop of sweet ran down his temple. This was pure heaven, he was making her feel like no other man had done during sex, this was everything a woman could wish for. Oh God, a bit more, just a little bit more…

Natural fireworks were set off in her lower area, causing Kaitlyn to arch her back and let out a shaky whimper. Dolph followed not long afterwards; it took him five good, deep thrusts before he quickly pulled out and it took him two strokes to make him fall over the edge, letting thick drops of white spill over his knuckles with a deep groan.

A moment of quietness passed until both lovers had sank down to Earth. Dolph looked down at the beautiful sight below him that was Kaitlyn, who had her eyes still closed, softly panting and had a smile on her face that without a doubt expressed nothing but satisfaction. Who knows, maybe that blush would remain on her cheeks for the rest of the day… Dolph briefly chuckled. He leaned forward once more, planting an adorably sweet on the two-toned woman's forehead. This made her open one eye; the look in that eye may have looked tired, but it was clear that there was still love mixed in it. Her lips were kissed for one more time and the blonde bar owner leaned back up again, turned around and managed to open the glove compartment, from which he retrieved an unopened pack of tissues. After wiping his fingers and knuckles clean, he tucked his softened manhood back inside his pants and pulled up. Then he handed Kaitlyn had shorts and panties before moving over to the driver's seat to give her more space to dress up.

Dolph just couldn't help himself but gently touch her cheek once more after she was done putting back on her clothes. Kaitlyn's response was to put her hand on top of his and smile back at him. They didn't say a thing, only staring at each other in a way that only true lovers could do.

A sudden, loud bang on the trunk made the whole car tremble and immediately snapped them out of the relaxing daze. Now with their eyes widened in surprise, they sat up and turned their heads.

The shock caused the blonde bar owner's mouth to slightly open, but he couldn't produce one sound; Kaitlyn on the other hand gasped and shrieked at the top of her lungs.

The intensity of the rain shower had lessened enough to reveal a tall man standing behind the car, with his fists on the trunk, hunched over and staring back at the couple with his face contorted into a mask of sheer rage.

That man was someone that Kaitlyn knew too well.

It was Bobby Roode.

That white, old, banged up car they had been looking for this whole morning was parked right behind him.


	24. Ex's Wrath

**Chapter 24**

 **Ex's Wrath**

'God fucking damn it, I fucking knew it, you motherfucking slut! Fucking bitch! Goddamn it!'

Even though he was standing outside and they were sitting inside the car, the space between them did absolutely little to nothing to muffle down the insane, raging, nearly incomprehensible barrage of insults that was spilling out of Bobby's mouth. His face remained contorted in this terrifying mask of nothing but pure anger, it was hard to look at without feeling the urge to start fearing for your life. It was more than clear that it was impossible to calm him down, as he was so blinded by his own fury. How long had he been standing there? Jesus Christ, they hadn't heard him approaching for one second! Well, he had definitely been standing there silently in the pouring rain long enough to see most of what his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend had been doing in that car for the past couple minutes. Wham. Wham. Bobby's clenched fists hit the trunk over and over again like sledgehammers while bellowing more insults that were mostly directed at Kaitlyn; each insult was fouler than the other and sprayed out of his mouth like burning venom.

Both Dolph and Kaitlyn were sitting there as if their bodies had been frozen solid. All they could do is stare at that raging maniac with their eyes widened in a mix of shock and horror, unable to produce one word. But it had to be the two-toned woman who had to be the most horrified by what she was seeing. She could hardly believe who she was looking at. Was that really Bobby? Yes, it was him. That crazed psycho out there was none other than Bobby Roode. It was the same Bobby Roode who she had spend four months of her life with, whose charm and attractive looks had made her fall for him on that day they both happened to have that photo shoot gig, who had paid for all dinners during the first three dates they had before officially confirming their relationship in his bed by the end of the last date, who would offer to rub her tense shoulders whenever she came home from a hard day of work, who would always put one of his strong, muscled arms around her waist whenever they would attend a party, be it from friends or from work. This furious nuthouse, hammering on the trunk with a nearly demonic face, once used to be her boyfriend; it was so hard to believe this. Never during their whole relationship had Kaitlyn seen him this angry. Seeing him like this absolutely scared the living hell out of her, so much so that she couldn't move for an inch.

It was the two-toned woman who finally managed to say something after these surreal, terrifying seconds.

'Bobby…' That was all she could mutter, her big eyes still fixated on the insane tirade outside.

'Wait… Bobby as in… Bobby Roode?' Dolph replied; even though his voice had been slightly louder than hers, he couldn't look away from the unsettling sight either. 'That guy you used to date?'

'Yeah, that's him. Holy hell… I can't believe this…'

So many questions shot through Kaitlyn's mind at the same time with the speed of light. What the hell was happening? What was he doing here? How did he know where they were? What did he want? Was this even real? Having her suppressed love for the man she had fallen for during her blossoming puberty finally answered in the most amazing way possible had been a dream… why did it have to be followed up by such an unreal nightmare?!

That's when her infuriated ex suddenly stopped banging on the damaged trunk, of which by now undoubtedly had been dented to the point where fixing it would be an expensive cost.

'Get out! Get the fuck out of there, slut! You're going to fucking pay!' Bobby shouted.

Then, much to the two-toned woman's and the blonde bar owner's increasing horror, they saw the scorned ex heading right to the door of the passenger's seat.

'Lock the doors! Lock the doors! Lock the doors, now!' Kaitlyn practically screamed; she had become so frantic at this point that she had hardly noticed herself repeating those words.

Dolph didn't need to be told this twice. There was barely any time to close all of the doors this car had. He pushed down the plastic pin of his own door, instantly locking it. Kaitlyn saw what he was doing and almost overlooked the pin on her door in a whim of awful panic, but luckily she managed to find it and pushed it down with so much force that the pain could be felt all the way to the bottom of her fingernail. And she had done this just in time, because less than a second later, Bobby appeared behind the window. The two-toned woman was this close to let out another shriek of fear, which was she had prevented by covering her mouth with both of her hands. Her ex didn't even have eye for her at first; his fixation was now turned to the handle of the door. His hands grabbed it and he immediately began furiously pulling it, as if he was trying to rip the damn thing off, perhaps along with the passenger's door. That's when the two-toned woman got, as much as she didn't wish to, a much better look of Bobby's face and dear God in Heaven, it was even more terrifying from up close. It truly looked like he was possessed by the most ferocious demon, he looked that enraged. It was on that very moment when Kaitlyn realized that once this fucking psycho would manage to rip the door open, he would pull her out and beat her face until even Dolph couldn't recognize it by the end of it, or worse. Far worse. He was here to finish what he had intended to start on the night where she had left him and the only thing that was stopping him from doing so right now was the locked door that was between them.

Bobby quickly realized when he tugged on the handle that she had managed to shut it just in time, which only enraged him more and while he still attempted to rip the door open with one hand, he banged on the window with his other hand.

'Open up! Bitch! Open the fuck up! Open!' he furiously shouted at the top of his lungs.

There was only one way to escape from this complete psychopath and Dolph knew exactly what that was. Despite the fact that he couldn't look away from Bobby for one second, his fingers found the gear stick. As soon as he would shift it in the right gear and take off the brake, they could speed off like bats out of hell and escape whatever this raging lunatic had in mind for not only Kaitlyn, but possibly for him as well.

But by the time Dolph's hand was on the gear stick, it was already far too late.

An ear-deafening bang rung through the whole car as the window of the passenger's side was shattered into pieces; the weapon that was used for this had entirely been Bobby's bare, clenched fist. Kaitlyn shrieked and covered the side of her face with her hands. As a result, several tiny cuts in the palms as glass had practically exploded inches away from her. Shards of various sizes filled her entire lap, some even landed in her hair. There was absolutely no chance for her to react; right after one single blow at shattered the entire window, her ex grabbed a fistful of her hair and immediately began to pull with the strength of truly someone who looked like he was possessed by a demon. An unbearably sharp pain traveled through her entire head, causing her to scream out loud, both in pain and fear. Blood trickled down Bobby's hand and mixed with her hair, some of it smearing on small shards of glass that had tangled up between the strands. When Bobby's other hand grabbed another chunk of hair and thus increasing the pain, it grew so intense that the two-toned woman started to see stars in front of her eyes. All she could do was scream and claw at those hands that were feeling like steel talons in an attempt to break free from the death grip, scratching in the damaged flesh deep enough to draw blood. But her ex was so fueled by his own rage that he didn't feel any of this. He pulled so hard that he lifted the two-toned woman from her seat. That's when Kaitlyn realized that he was trying to pull her through the broken window. In two seconds after he had gotten a hold on her hair, he had already managed to effortlessly pull her head more than halfway through the window. The two-toned woman desperately attempted find anything to hold onto in order to stop him from pulling her any further, but only was able to firmly grab the empty frame of the window; however, some shards were still present on the edges, causing these shards to be pushed inside the palms of her hands, deep enough to make these new wounds bleed. She knew that if she would try to break free again, she would be forced to let go and that's when he could pull her entire body through the window; all that she could do was hold on for her dear life and scream in agonizing pain.

And that's when the door on Dolph's side flew open and the blonde bar owner stormed outside, charging right at Kaitlyn's attacker. It thankfully took one good, hard punch to Bobby's jaw to finally make him let go of the two-toned woman. The pain lessened so quickly that it made her dizzy for a second, but some of the pain still lingered in her roots when she fell onto her back, landing on the gear stick with her lower back.

One single punch to this scumbag's face was everything but enough in Dolph's eyes for what this son of a bitch did to the two-toned woman; the impact of the fist to his jaw had been hard enough to cause him to become dazed and the blonde bar owner immediately took advantage of this.

'You fucker!' he furiously shouted at him. A second blow was launched at him, this time landing right on Bobby's nose. A sickening crack followed before Kaitlyn's ex-boyfriend howled in pain and clutched his nose. Blood poured through the gaps between his fingers in thick streams; whichever bone Dolph had broken must have shattered in tiny pieces. Even though he was clearly in immense pain, he wasn't showing any signs of backing down. Bobby's eyes shot daggers as he launched himself at the blonde bar owner and he attempted to make him pay for breaking his nose by breaking his. The punch missed its target; it did land dangerously close to Dolph's eye, however. The blow thankfully didn't break his eye socket or cheekbone but fuck, did it hurt. Something suddenly smelled like strong booze. Dolph retaliated by launching his third punch on Bobby's shattered nose. Another pained bellow erupted from the man's mouth and this moment of vulnerability it was all Dolph needed to tackle him down to the concrete. He made sure this violent bastard wasn't going to move for an inch by pinning his arms down with all the strength and weight he had. Bobby struggled as much as he could in a last attempt to shake him off, but to little avail. By now, his chin and mouth had been entirely covered with the blood that kept running out of his nose.

'Stay down!' Dolph snarled at him.

'Fuck… you…!' was the response; droplets of spit mixed with blood flew out of Bobby's mouth as he hissed this.

The blonde bar owner would've surely punched him again to make him shut up if Kaitlyn hadn't crawled out of the car just in time to stop him; he had already pulled his arm back to deliver as many blows as it would take to punch his lights out.

'Dolph, stop it! Please! That's enough!' she said, placing her hand on his back. 'Let me talk to him!'

Traces of the urge to punch the living hell out of Bobby still lingered in Dolph's eyes as he briefly glanced at her. It was quiet between them for a brief moment, aside from the furious panting that came from him and also underneath him. It seemed like he somewhat had come to his senses, because he gave her a little nod and lowered down his fist. The blonde bar owner still decided to keep Bobby pinned down, just in case.

'Kait… Kaity…'

As if somehow a switch had been turned inside Bobby's brains, the ex entire demeanor had changed. His voice had gone from loud and hoarse with absolute rage to wavy and soft, either due to intoxication, regret or both. Now that she had come closer, Kaitlyn could see how much Bobby's eyes had changed. They were entirely bloodshot, and in combination with his blue-grey irises, it created quite a scary effect. She could've easily guessed what could have caused this; she could smell a strong whiff of alcohol coming from her beaten ex, hanging around him like an invisible cloud.

'Could you mind explaining me about what the hell you are doing here, Bobby?!' the two-toned woman angrily asked.

That's when Bobby, possibly the manliest man that Kaitlyn had ever dated throughout her adult life, suddenly burst into tears; said tears mixed with the rain that was falling down on his partially bloodied face. It wasn't like the two-toned woman had something against men who'd cry since that made it clear that they were willing to show their vulnerable side to her. In Bobby's case however, there was absolutely nothing touching about it; he was looking unbelievably pathetic, and above all else, he was sobbing like a goddamn drunk.

'Bobby, Jesus Christ…' Kaitlyn sighed and disapprovingly shook her head, hardly believing she once had fallen in love with this complete and utter mess of a human being.

'I knew it…' her ex sobbed. 'I knew you were leaving me for some dipshit on that night…'

'What? Are you… Oh God, you have got to be kidding me. That never had been the reason of why I left, you dumbass!'

'Do you have any idea what you have done to me, Kait? You fucked me up! This is your fault!' At this point, Bobby was bawling like a toddler that had scraped his knee on the pavement. 'How dare you leaving me like that?! How could you do this to me?! Everything would have been fine if you had stayed!'

Oh yeah, sure, because being stuck in an abusive relationship where your man sees nothing wrong in hitting on other women while expecting you to be perfectly fine with it, that's true happiness right there.

'I had to know if it was true… I wanted to see if there had been another guy… that's why I came here.'

'So it was you who broke into my motel room while I was sleeping? Was it you who tried to run me over on the parking lot? And that brick with that threat through Brian's window this morning. That was also you, then?'

Bobby lifted his head and managed to nod. 'I only entered that motel room to see if you were alone in there. Christ, I can't believe that somewhere inside me I still wanted some slut like you back…'

'And you thought you could get her back by trying to run her over and threatening her?' Dolph asked, trying his best to suppress the urge to shove the scorned ex's teeth down his throat with his fist for this insult. 'You are seriously fucked up in your head if you think that.'

'You stay out of this!' Bobby snarled at him.

'No, he won't!' Kaitlyn replied. 'How long have you been following me, Bobby? How did you know in which room I was staying? Tell me!'

'I had just arrived in Hope's Creek when I saw entering your car near the supermarket. I… I followed you from there on out.'

No, it hadn't been Mr. Buns who hadn't been stalking her this whole time, but the fact that it had been her vengeful (and intoxicated) ex didn't make the revelation less terrifying. The realization that he had been watching her from the shadows inside that old car at every waking moment, following her wherever she had gone, keeping his distance and waiting for the right moments to strike did not only make her entire body feel cold with sheer shock, but it also made her so sick to her stomach that she was on the verge of gagging. Bobby had turned into a raging animal on the night she broke things off with him and left, but to think that he was actually capable of doing something like this… driving over three hours to her birthplace to stalk her and do God knows what to her once he'd get his hands on her, just to heal his wounded ego… never had she thought about during her search, not once. To think that he had it in him to do something so fucked up was nearly impossible for her to comprehend. Thankfully she succeeded in hiding an extent of her shock and disgust, retaining her composure.

The two-toned woman looked up and glanced at the car; that's when she felt the sudden but strong urge to look inside to see what was in there.

'Wait just a moment.' she mumbled to Dolph before she walked towards the vehicle. Kaitlyn couldn't remember Bobby ever owning such an old piece of junk, it was so out of character to him. She always saw him looking for the fancier types of cars, often buying magazines about them and looking through them before going to sleep, sometimes even asking her which one she'd like to have. The most logical reason for him driving this car, which had definitely seen better days a couple of years ago, is that he was so hell-bent on finding out whether she was actually ditching his cheating ass for a new guy that he was willing to hire, or perhaps even buy, some secondhand piece of scrap metal on wheels to find her. And after all, she had taken the only car they owned, so he did have to get another vehicle in order to travel all the way to Hope's Creek. Hell, it was a freaking miracle that he made it all the way from Greene City to here without this rusty, dented wrack breaking down at some point.

One look inside that car could possibly mean a look inside what the hell went on inside Bobby's head for these past days, Kaitlyn realized. This was why she mentally braced herself before opening the passenger's door, just in case. A heavy smell of booze mixed with sweat hit her right in the face like a brick, but she was able to continue looking after she had briefly turned her head away to breathe in some fresh air. Just like she had expected, a nearly half empty bottle of scotch was resting on the passenger's seat; it must have not been too long ago that he had taken a swig from that, since he was reeking of alcohol just earlier. A single, empty, grease-stained, paper bag with the logo of a well-known fast food chain printed on it was lying underneath the bottle. Clothes were shoddily strewn in the back of the car, as if they had been hastily thrown in there before he left, implicating that Bobby was planning on staying and stalking her for a long time. Kaitlyn also noticed a fleece, dark blue blanket in the back, meaning that he might have well slept in this car during the night. He had practically been living in here for the past days, dear God… What was he planning to do with her if he had been successful in getting his hands on her? He had mentioned earlier that somewhere he still wanted her back, so he could have wanted to take her back to Greene City. That would have meant this foul-smelling piece of junk would have been her prison for the entire ride, had he succeeded in getting his hands on her.

'Bobby, you bastard… you pathetic, creepy bastard.' was all Kaitlyn could mumble while shaking her head.

She walked away, refusing to look at the disgusting mess her ex had been living in and headed back to Dolph, who was still pinning her ex down. By this time, Bobby had finally given up on trying to break free; he was now lying on the concrete, his face soaked with tears, rain and blood, sobbing like his entire world had fallen apart.

'You found something in there?' Dolph asked Kaitlyn.

'No. It's fine.'

Then the two-toned woman shifted her attention to her pathetic mess of an ex. 'Now you listen here, Bobby…' she said in a calm, but firm tone. 'This bullshit ends right now. Be a man, accept that I never want to see you ever again, get back in that car and leave us alone. It's over between us. I don't want you in my life any longer. I expect from you that have packed up all of your shit and moved out of my house. I don't care where you'll go, but I want you gone.'

'Kait…' the ex-boyfriend sobbed. 'Kaity Cat, please… give me ano-'

'No, you shut up!' Dolph snarled back at him. 'Try to follow her again and see what happens! I will fucking bash your entire face in next time you dare to hurt her! You leave her alone! You understand?!'

While emitting another ugly sob, Bobby nodded. 'Okay, okay… I'll go. I promise.'

The blonde bar owner was convinced that the message had gotten to this son of a bitch's head. He dared to finally let go of his arms and got up, ready to tackle him down again if Bobby tried to fight him again. But this thankfully didn't happen; he remained on the concrete, lying down and still crying.

'Let's go, Kaitlyn.' Dolph mumbled.

Kaitlyn silently gave him a nod, glanced down at the absolute mess of an ex she wished to forget as soon as possible, and walked back to Dolph's own car. They got inside and drove off, leaving him behind.

Too much distance had already been made for them to hear Bobby shout one last string of insults directed at Kaitlyn before he got in his car as well and at last accepted defeat, heading into the opposite direction.


	25. Don't Touch Me

**Chapter 25**

 **Don't Touch Me**

The plush rabbit mask that shielded his eyes did little to nothing to make his stare any less soul-piercing, because AJ had felt it the whole time she was busy making pancakes for him. It was the first thing he had ordered her to do upon entering her sugary sweet prison, right after he had wished her a good morning, apologizing for leaving her alone and expressing how he hoped she had slept well, either unaware that she had barely any sleep thanks to him or simply not caring about it. The petite woman's limbs felt like they had instantly turned into stone once Mr. Buns had come in and she had been unable to speak. Not because she was refusing to greet him back, but simply because she just couldn't do it, out of the pure fear she had towards her captor. Yes, hatred had always been present as well during these past days, but on that moment, it was the fear that overlapped any other feeling. Luckily she had already hidden the diary and key back in their original spots way before Mr. Buns had returned, thus sparing her from a highly likely brutal beating. All she was capable of was staring back at the plush lunatic while she was sitting on the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest and her legs wrapped around her legs, tired eyes widened as she anxiously wondered what he was going to do with her now.

AJ still didn't have a clue of what time it was but she was assuming that it must be close to the afternoon, since the sun had been shining brighter through the gaps of the wooden beams and Mr. Buns requesting her to make lunch for both of them. She had heard the question clearly and she had to put most of the energy she could possibly muster up to get her legs moving. They felt heavy, so ungodly heavy, but she was able to get off the bed and walk towards the fridge. Surprisingly, a dozen eggs and a single bottle of milk had been placed in there, as if Mr. Buns had been planning all along to make her bake pancakes for him. The faint memory of her mother making these for her one time when she was nine years old (AJ believed it happened on a Friday morning, right before she had headed off to school) gave her enough knowledge on how exactly to make them; it was one of the rare good memories she had of Roberta Lee, since that had been one of the very few times where she hadn't been high on heroin and just happened to be acting relatively nice to her. Not for one moment did Mr. Buns, who was sitting at the table, look away from her. It was so fucking creepy and unsettling, but she tried her best to not let it get to her and instead concentrated on the bubbling, creamy liquid in the pan.

The amount of eggs and milk had been enough to make five pancakes in total; four and half ended up on Mr. Buns' plate, the remaining half on AJ's, but she was too scared to protest this absurd unfairness. It quickly turned out that one croissant and orange juice wasn't enough to fill up her stomach, since it was now emitting soft, growling noises. Hunger began to form, growing stronger by the second; the petite woman already knew that one half of a pancake wasn't going to ease it. She bit off small pieces, taking her time. It was difficult to eat in the presence of a deranged psychopath dressed up in a rabbit costume, but she still managed to gulp down the pieces of pancake, which surprisingly didn't even taste half that bad.

You'd expect someone who is fully dressed up in some costume to take off his mask to eat, right? That's what AJ had been secretly hoping for Mr. Buns to do, as it would reveal the true face that sick son of a bitch had been hiding all along. Unfortunately for her, he was everything but stupid. Just like the petite woman, he sliced off tiny pieces of pancake. He slightly pulled the loose fabric around the neck forward with one hand, creating enough space to slip the fork between his still perfectly hidden face and the mask and put the food inside his mouth.

AJ had finished eating her scarce meal by now; just like she had predicted, it had done very little to take the hunger away. What made it even worse was watching her tormenter continuing to eat his lunch, seemingly unmoved by the fact that he had plenty to eat while she was sitting there trying her best to muffle down the gurgles in her stomach by pressing her hands on it.

'It's for your own good, my little sweetheart.' Mr. Buns suddenly said, most likely having heard how hungry she actually was. 'I need you to remain thin and pretty. Because let me tell you… there's absolutely nothing pretty about fat girls. Oh no, not at all. You are far better than them. I know what is right for you. I might let you eat a little bit more if you keep behaving like a good girl, but if you don't… I'm afraid I need to cut your portions until you have taught your lesson. But I have to say, you have been behaving so well now. I know I had to correct you here and there for a bit in the beginning and believe me… it pained me to have to punish you. But it was all for your own good. You are such a beautiful little girl… and you need to stay that way.'

It was quiet between Mr. Buns and his beloved prisoner for a short moment.

'And for how long do you want me to be your... perfect girl?' AJ suddenly asked, her voice become softened thanks to all the emotions she had been forced to go through. 'How long until you'll grow tired of me and go look for another girl?'

'What do you mean by that?'

The petite woman instinctively scooted away. 'Is that why you had killed that many girls back then? Did you become bored with toying with one at some point, so you decide to kill her off to shut her up and move onto the next one? Was that how you worked?'

'Don't be so silly, dear AJ. It doesn't suit you.'

While she had been speaking, she had been mentally preparing herself for him flying into a rage in the blink of an eye and violently 'correcting' her until she'd lie on the floor with blood trickling out of her fresh injuries… it didn't happen. Nothing in that demonic voice indicated that Mr. Buns was going to snap; he was dismissing these questions as if they were amusing him instead of ticking him off. He slowly shook his head.

'That's not how it was like. To me, little girls have always been something that should be treasured. They are the purest, sweetest, most beautiful things out there… I gave each girl all the love and care I had, not once did it cross my mind to replace one, as you had implicated just now. To me, killing off a girl to replace it with another is like a child would break its favorite toy on purpose just to get another one; it's absolutely ridiculous and ungrateful. But no matter how much love and care I gave to a girl… she just couldn't behave. And that made me so… damn… angry…'

'Angry enough to kill them…?'

'I am not to blame for their rudeness! A little girl who doesn't know how to behave like one is nothing more than a disrespectful bitch that deserves to die! I only tried to save them from what they'd eventually become! Do you know what happens to little girls when they grow up, AJ?' At this point, Mr. Buns began to sound truly resentful. 'They lose their innocence. They lose their beauty. They grow up to be whores. They carelessly abandon which they were always supposed to remain and don't even bat an eye about it. But I wouldn't let that happen to them. Not on my watch. You may have grown older and yet… you still look the same. And I'm so grateful for that.'

It was at this moment where the resentment had left his voice and grew softer with adoration; and it made the fear and disgust AJ held towards him this entire time increase by tenfold. Mr. Buns slightly leaned in closer.

'I had lost you once, but I got you back. And as long as we're together… you will always remain my perfect, beautiful, little princess.'

And to show her how much she meant to him, he reached out with his hand and gently stroked the petite woman's right cheek. Feeling the stale-smelling fabric touching her skin made AJ absolutely sick to her stomach and caused ice cold chills to travel to every spot in her body. But then, at the very same time, this unwanted touch brought out something entirely justified and something she had thought to be suppressed by the intense anxiety.

AJ angrily slapped away the arm, the sound of the smack muted by the dusty fabric. She was angry and disgusted enough to glare at her kidnapper.

'You sick fuck…!' she hissed.

That was such a grave mistake to make.

Pure rage exploded from Mr. Buns in less than a second. As if he was stung by a wasp, he got up from his chair and with a furious scream of rage that sounded like only a demon from the deepest pit of Hell could make, took a hold of the dinner and effortless flipped it onto its side, knocking over two chairs in the progress, sending the big teddy bear, one of the Victorian-styled dolls and all of the tableware to the floor. Not one crack was formed in the porcelain of the teacups, plates or the face of the doll, but they were soon crushed with a loud cracking noise when the table tipped over due to the strength it had been thrown over with and landed on them anyway. There was no time whatsoever for AJ to react, be it shielding her face, running away or even trying to fight back. She was slapped across the face with so much strength that she was knocked off her seat. Despite her kidnapper's hand being covered with plush, her cheek still felt like it was set on fire.

One slap didn't mean it was the end of Mr. Buns' unholy rage. In fact, it was only the beginning. As soon as he was standing close enough to her, a rain of kicks and stomps was sent down upon her. It was like multiple sledgehammers were slamming on her arms, ribs, stomach and legs. The only spots that were spared from the abuse were AJ's head and face, but that was only because she managed to shield them with her arms just in time before he began kicking her. Each blow resulted in a loud shriek of pain, all emitted from the petite girl, whose pain-wrecked body was now curled up into a fetal position. If no bones were broken, she would definitely have bruises all over her limbs, she was entirely convinced of that. The kicking and stomping came to an end after an agonizing ten seconds, but it didn't mean in the slightest that her tormentor had grown tired or calmed down. He went down on his knees, pulled her arms away from her face and began beating her repeatedly with his fists. AJ, still letting out shrieks, tried her best to protect her face from the punches by swatting and slapping his arms way each time his fists were getting too close, but to little avail; some blows could still be landed mostly on her cheek bones. Oh Jesus, if he kept it up like this, he'd knock her teeth out, maybe even unconscious or even worse.

After what felt like a century filled with dread of being beaten to death (which were in fact seven seconds), the punches came to an end. Now entirely blinded by his murderous fury, Mr. Buns' hand was placed on the neckline of her dress; it took one hard pull to make the fabric and expose AJ's chest.

Oh no.

AJ's eyes had been clenched shut due to the pain, but once she felt the cold on her chest, her eyes immediately were immediately opened wide with shock. The sheer cold that went through her aching body was strong enough to overlap the throbbing pain. She immediately knew what she was going to be in for… and it had been what she had feared the most during her entire captivity.

She saw him staring down at her chest, she heard him loudly breathing through his hidden nose; it was an eerily easy guess of what went through his mind.

'N-No!' the petite woman screamed. 'No! Don't…!'

All the kicks she had tried to strike him didn't even come close to touching him; she merely scraped against his arm when he took a firm hold of both of her legs and began dragging her towards the bed, causing panic to fully take over. The petite woman desperately tried to grab onto something, no matter what it was, as long as she could hold onto it for dear life. But much to her horror, there was nothing within her reach; all she could do was helplessly screaming at the top of her lungs. Just then, when Mr. Buns had to briefly let go of her legs once they had reached the bed and bend over her in order to grab her by the shoulders, she saw what could possibly be her only chance of fighting back.

'Get the fuck away from me!' AJ shouted at him. With all the strength she had inside him, fueled by the panic, she punched him on the side of his head.

And holy hell… was she close to fully knocking that damn mask off.

The plush rabbit mask slipped off his head for an inch, partially exposing a bare neck. But that was all AJ could see, because before it could slip off even further, he quickly pulled it back into place. This was the one thing that clearly angered him the most; it took one hard punch to her head to make everything go partially dark.

Oh God, oh God, oh God… if she would close her eyes, it would be all over, AJ knew, still holding on to that last bit of consciousness. An insanely rapid heartbeat filled up her entire head; this, along with a strange, high-pitched noise and her own soft yet panicked breathing, was all she could hear. It felt like all control and sensation had left her limbs, the world around her was blurry and darkened. Two hands were shoved underneath her armpits. She was lifted up like she weighed nothing and was tossed onto the bed like she was a ragdoll. Tears of distress began leaking from the corners of her eyes. Still struggling to remain conscious, the petite woman was able to lift her head up enough to catch a glimpse of Mr. Buns, who was now standing right in front of the bed. Something disgusting had already begun to poke through the fabric on his crotch. No more physical strength was left inside her body; he was free to do whatever he wanted with her as soon as he'd get on the bed and that realization made the tears flow harder. AJ stared at him, eyes big with pure distress, expecting him to harm her in the worst way imaginable…

But nothing happened.

Instead of doing what she had feared so much, Mr. Buns took two steps back, facing away from her and shaking his head. AJ tried her hardest to understand what he was mumbling right now; thankfully the high-pitched noise inside her head had grown soft enough to hear it.

'No… No… not this… She needs to stay innocent…' the psychopath mumbled. It was clear that he wasn't talking to her. Was he… discouraging himself? Oh, thank God…

Then, after a few surreal seconds of silence, he looked back at her.

'Look what you just made me do.' Mr. Buns said. 'Now you got your dress ripped up. I made that for you… What a shame, it was such a pretty dress. And I don't have any fabric left to make a new one, now I have to go out and buy fabric. Thank goodness I still know your measurements. You stay here and think about what you have done, young lady.'

As if the horrors that had ensued earlier never had happened, he walked away and exited the bedroom/prison, locking the door behind him and leaving AJ lying on the bed to let her entire body uncontrollably tremble and sob hysterically.


	26. A Friendship In Ruins

**Chapter 26**

 **A Friendship In Ruins**

The way the naked, mutilated body of poor Liv Morgan had been dumped near Hope's Creek local pool didn't stray too far from how Kaitlyn had described her body being discarded before she broken down in tears in front of her friend; she indeed had been discarded like she was trash, as it turned out. She had gone missing on Sunday evening and her body was discovered on Thursday night. Rage, horror, sadness and disgust must have risen deep within anyone who had read the news article regarding her discovery in the most recent news paper, where everyone could read how exactly she had been found. Liv's body had been heartlessly stuffed inside a trash bag that perhaps hadn't been big enough for her entire body to fit inside or the killer had been in a haste while getting of rid of her, since she had been found with her legs sticking outside the bag; if she could have fitted inside while the bag could still be tied shut, then she most likely would have been mistaken for stray trash and ignored, because after all, why would someone bat an eye about a lonely trash bag nearby a public facility? The ones who had found her were two local women who happened to pass by the pool while they were on their way to a birthday party of a mutual friend of theirs; police were called immediately at a nearby house when they, much to their absolute horror, saw Liv's legs sticking out of the bag. The sole reason why the corpse had been identified so quickly was because of her face, that didn't have any mutilations whatsoever… but if it had been her face that had been entirely caved in instead of the back of her head, having been bashed in repeatedly with a blunt object so violently that more than one half of her brain had turned into a gory, soup-like substance, then it could have taken a longer time for the forensics team to correctly identify the unfortunate girl.

Fear and shock had already swept through Hope's Creek once when it had become clear that when Alicia's death had been anything but natural and it seemed to increase in tenfold when the following missing girl had turned out to be brutally murdered as well. You could feel that atmosphere wherever you would walk through this once so peaceful, quiet, all-American town, no matter where you would walk, be it in the more shady part of town where Roberta Lee was definitely the most well-known person who lived there (for all the wrong reasons, of course), the shops, or the high-class neighborhood; it was unsettling, unrelenting and suffocating. It had infected all of Hope's Creek. The police wagons driving down the streets almost felt like it had become a common sight, just like the police officers who would not only question anyone who happened to live around the area where Liv Morgan's body had been found if they had seen or heard anything suspicious on that night, but also people from other neighborhoods. Much to their increasing frustration, it seemed like not one person had seen or heard one thing that could lead to the person who possibly not only had killed Liv, but Alicia as well. Not one witness, just like in her case.

One certain family in Hope's Creek was unfortunate enough to suffer far worse than everyone else did. Rumors from their neighbors had it that when the horrifying news that absolutely no parents wished to hear, reached the household, Liv's mother was so distraught that she fainted almost immediately and could only hysterically cry upon regaining consciousness. Liv's parents were completely inconsolable, for their daughter, who they desperately wished for to be found alive and safe as quick as possible, was ripped out of their lives in the most grisly way imaginable.

Kaitlyn remembered Liv once talking about all the plans she had in mind for the summer when she come over to her place on that day. Roasting marshmallows above a bonfire, going to Bangor to visit an arcade hall that had recently opened, swimming in the river, finally try out skateboarding, playing hide and seek in the woods during the night with only a flashlight… none of them were going to happen now. Her friend was gone. And not 'gone' as in like she had moved away or broke off the friendship because of a fight or something, as most friendships end in these ways. No. She was murdered. Murdered and dumped in the gutter like she was a piece of worthless stray garbage instead of a human being made of flesh and blood. It was these thoughts that made tears instantly well up in her eyes and spill down her cheeks. How? How could someone be so cruel, so heartless, so twisted? What kind of person would do something like this? Liv didn't deserve any of this! These tears would mostly flow during the morning and night, on times where she was lying in her bed; that's when her grief for Liv would be at its worst.

Thankfully there was someone who was there for her to make it all a bit easier for her.

It was at this point that AJ had become the only friend she had. Not only that, but she also happened to be the one person who had been there for her the most. Well yes, her parents did know how much Liv's death had devastated their daughter and they did try her best to comfort as much as possible in their own way; her mother cooked Kaitlyn's favorite dinner (spaghetti carbonara, which she barely able to eat) at the end of the day where the naked, bloodied corpse that was found in a trash bag was confirmed to be her missing friend and her father constantly reassured her that the bastard who did this would definitely be caught very soon since there was so much police force in town now. But AJ had been the one who had been most capable of easing her inner pain. During the three days that followed after the gruesome discovery at the local pool, it had been the petite girl that could make Kaitlyn smile and briefly forget about her grief. It were the little things she did for her that mattered so much to her, such as the time where she snuck into her bedroom at night with a bag of chips, two cans of soda and three comic books when her parents were out for dinner at some restaurant at Bangor; the girls had spend the night on Kaitlyn's bed snacking on the deliciously salty snack while reading the dialogue of the superheroes and villains out loud with comically-toned voices. Or the time when they made a bunch of paper boats and let them race against each other at the river, with a large branch that they had placed across the water acting as the finish line. AJ's boats had won most of the matches but that didn't matter to Kaitlyn, because it had been a lot of fun nonetheless. All of this had meant so much to her, it had been these small things that she had needed so much and they did make her grief more bearable.

And it was exactly after those three days passed that a third girl went missing; it happened on a Monday night.

She had gone out that night to go to a poorly-timed birthday party of a friend and just like with Alicia and Liv, she never arrived home. The only thing the police found of her was her bike, which was lying next to the road with a flat tire, so she would have never had a chance of escaping her kidnapper even if she attempted to get away on her bike. And that girl's name was Carmella Van Dale.

No matter how hard the police searched, they couldn't find a single trace of whoever had taken her nor any witnesses; the bastard was like a damn ghost when it came to targeting his victim and getting away. Or he was so convinced of his own luck that he had grown bold.

'Wait… Carmella has gone missing?' There had been a small hint of surprise in AJ's voice when Kaitlyn told her about this when they were once again hanging out at _Casa La_ AJ the day after fear fully struck Hope's Creek once more. She stopped reading the magazine she had been reading earlier down and stared at the bushes for a couple of seconds. Then she scoffed and twitched one of the sides of her mouth into a quick smirk. 'Well… can't say that I'm too saddened about that.' she said before shifting her attention back on an article about the latest fashion for girls from her age.

Well… if Kaitlyn had to be honest, her reaction didn't really surprise her; she knew how Carmella had treated her all this time, she knew it all too well. But still… this was something you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy. Yes, Carmella Van Dale was a total bitch, she had always agreed on that, but she didn't deserve something this horrific. God knows what kind of hell she was going through right now, that is, if she was still alive at this point. She just hoped that the police would be able to find her and her kidnapper before it was too late.

And with all of this police force on the streets these days, you would assume that some clue that could lead to the killer's arrest and Carmella's rescue to be found fairly quick, right? Unfortunately, this hope, of which Mr. and Mrs. Van Dale were desperately holding onto, more so than all the other residents of Hope's Creek, proved to be in vain. A whole week, an agonizing time where fear ruled the entire town like an invisible, vicious tyrant, passed by without the police finding anything. Not one person in the right mind dared to let their beloved daughter, sister or cousin go out at night while this lunatic was still out there. People still tried to continue living on their lives during this time, but you could still clearly see and feel that things had changed. The whole community had been shaken at its core by the horrors that had struck Hope's Creek and the tense, fearful atmosphere that was lingering around the whole town was nearly suffocating. This was not the sleepy, uneventful but peaceful Hope's Creek Kaitlyn knew and grew up in. It was like she had somehow ended up in a whole different place that just happened to look identical to Hope's Creek, like some strange world that could only possibly exist in nightmares. This was all because of that bastard, that sick bastard, this was all his fault…

Even though this summer would be bound to become the darkest time in the history of this town, both AJ and Kaitlyn agreed to try their best to make the best of this summer as much as they could; this season was something that psychopath could never take away from them.

And that was exactly what they did during this same week. They were doing exactly what everyone else who lived here was trying to do; continue to live their lives. And it just so happened that the girls' lives were still young, ready to be filled in with countless, beautiful memories that were yet to come, all of them surely stemming from the few years of precious teenage life that they still had left. The two girls only had each other to spend the summer with and they both knew that. Not for one day had Kaitlyn cared about what her parents had said about her friend that one time; AJ was her best friend and not even they could get between them. They would meet up every day during the week and together, they created the most wonderful memories that Kaitlyn (and most definitely AJ too) would forever remember and hold dear to her heart, no matter what age she would reach.

In the vast area of lively green that were the local woods, the girls were able to escape from the suffocating atmosphere that had swallowed up the town and live in their own world, which would belong to them and them alone. It was like nature was smiling down upon them, since every day they would visit this amazing place, the sun would brightly shine without a single, bothersome cloud to get in its way. One of their favorite activities had to be playing tag; it was that one game where they could put all their energy into. The girls would run as fast as they could when one would try to stay out of reach of the other, often playfully taunting each other and emitting laughs. Other things they both loved to do was to climb in the trees to see who could climb the furthest (though none of them would go further than two and a half meters), chase each other around with sticks while pretending they were holding deadly weapons, draw silly pictures in the sand, see who could throw pebbles the furthest down the river while standing on the bridge, tell each other jokes and imagine what kind of mythical creatures could possibly live in these woods and what kind of weapons they had to use to hunt them down.

One particularly warm day during the week gave Kaitlyn the idea of looking through the drawers of her wardrobe to see if she still had a spare swimsuit left. Thankfully there was a sunflower yellow swimsuit, of which the last time she had worn was a year ago or so, waiting on the bottom of the drawer to be rediscovered by her and it turned out to be exactly AJ's size. Her eyes had blinked in surprise when her friend presented this little gift to her, which made Kaitlyn secretly wonder if she had ever owned a swimsuit in her life. Their clothes and shoes stayed behind on the shore when they entered the calm river, changed into their swimsuits and hoping that the water would be cold enough to cool down on this day. The water's temperature was just fine and the girls were having the time of their lives, swimming down the river, seeing who could hold her breath under water for the longest time and splashing each other with the refreshing water. Both agreed that two hours of swimming was enough for them and spend the following hour lying on the pebbles on the shore, letting themselves dry up in the sun and trying to figure out what kind of object some clouds in the sky resembled. Kaitlyn would never forget the twinkle in AJ's eyes when she told her that she could keep the swimsuit after they were done dressing up.

And then there was this one time where they had to hurry to their hideout with two large, white, grease-stained boxes containing freshly baked pizzas (pepperoni for Kaitlyn, Hawaiian for AJ) before they would get cold; the smaller girl had come up with the idea of leaving the pizzas in the sun for a little while if they'd happen to get cold, but Kaitlyn wasn't quite sure if it would have any effect. Luckily they could both tell the temperature of the tasty lunch had barely changed after they had picked up from the recently opened pizzeria near the town house. It was quite a sight to behold for the passerby's who happened to pass them by on that afternoon; two girls, young enough to be considered as the next victims of the murderous madman who had been terrorizing this town for what felt like an eternity and yet both seemed to be completely unfazed by the fear that kept Hope's Creek steadily in its cold, suffocating grip, speeding down the streets with one girl controlling the bike and the other sitting right behind her with one hand placed on her friend's waist while holding the pizza boxes with the other. As soon as they sat down on the inflatable mattress and swung open the greasy, carton boxes, they dug in like any teen would do whenever pizza was presented. Even though they were too busy with chomping down on their slices to speak one word to another, they were still having a good time nonetheless. Because hey… it was summer, they were young, and it was just the two of them in their secret hideout in the woods. How much better would this get?

There were plenty of clothes that could be traded between the two, something which Kaitlyn saw as another way of rebelling against her parents, particularly her mother, who had always practically been forcing her to wear those stupid, girly clothes for as long as she could remember. And it just happened on that very Monday afternoon, where the girls decided to trade some clothes, that she didn't feel one ounce of regret when she took out some of her clothes she chose to give away (a light yellow summer dress with puffy sleeves, a pair of white socks with a pink heart pattern and an orange, thin vest with a yellow ribbon attached to the pockets) to her friend, because that morning she woke up to her parents having yet another heated argument downstairs in the kitchen; she could hardly understand what it was about this time because she was still lying in her bed, but whatever it was, it was bad enough for them to scream at each other like goddamn demons. Damn… the day had barely begun and the atmosphere in the house was already ruined. Kaitlyn was so angry at her parents for that, it was like they didn't care about how they affected her with their constant fighting. That's when she decided to rebel against them in the best way she knew how; meet up with AJ at their hideout and give her some of her clothes. When she arrived at _Casa La_ AJ with a backpack full of clothes, it turned out that her friend seemingly had the same idea in her head, much to her amusement. And so the girls spend most of their afternoon having their own little dress up party in the woods; out of the few clothes AJ had brought for her, Kaitlyn's favorite new piece of clothing had to be a denim dungaree; wearing it was so comfortable and it was definitely something a tomboyish girl like her would wear. After they were done with checking out their gifts, they went out for a deliciously cold smoothie.

But just as it went with all the other wonderful days they had spend together, the sky eventually darkened from a lively shade of blue to blue-purplish, signaling the incoming evening. It was be at that time of the day where the two friends would part ways and head home, because after all… they hadn't forgotten about the monster that roamed the streets of Hope's Creek at night. Each time they would head home, they promised each other that they'd give each other a call once they would arrive home, and thankfully, one of the girls always picked up when the other called.

Despite being thrown back into the harsh reality of being forced to live with parents that were at each other's throats all the time and knowing that there was an unthinkable kind of evil still out there that kept the entire town in his grip, Kaitlyn genuinely enjoyed every day she spend with her friend, promising herself to never forget these memories and always went to sleep those nights looking forward to the next day. And while she did have a great time with AJ, she did think it was quite a shame that they hadn't met up with Dolph anymore during the past week. That would have been really fun, even if it would be for a little while, as long as she would see him and talk to him. Just the thought of him talking to her as soon as they would sit down on one of the bar stools made butterflies gently flutter around in the pits of her stomach, it was that sole thought of being around him that was needed to make her look even forward to the next time they would see each other again. She had no idea when it would happen, but hopefully soon enough.

It was on that very moment when she thought of all of this where she realized how much she actually missed him…

There had been a couple of times during these past days where AJ had been talking about him, and each time his name would roll out of her mouth, Kaitlyn noticed the twinkles in her eyes growing as bright like Christmas lights. ('Mrs. April Jeanette Ziggler… that does have a nice little ring to it, doesn't it?', 'Seriously, how can a guy be so ridiculously cute?' and 'I wonder what he'll think of me once he sees me in this dress!' were some examples of these occasions) Yes, Kaitlyn was perfectly aware of the feelings her friend had for the handsome boy... but little did AJ know that she had been harboring those exact same feelings for Dolph as well. Kaitlyn wasn't going to lie about it; there had been moments where she felt so damn guilty and like a horrible person for having a crush on her friend's crush. This was so not okay, not okay at all. But still, she couldn't help herself. She had tried to ignore the butterflies whenever she thought of Dolph, she really did, but it was no use. There was no way she going to tell AJ about it, knowing damn well what the consequences for their friendship could be. Not once had she minded sharing a secret with her, but this one had to be kept for herself, for as long as she had to.

* * *

When she came home on that Monday evening, she felt a tight knot in her stomach that she had felt plenty of times and was dreading the atmosphere that she was bound to feel all around her. Kaitlyn had expected either two voices shouting one insult after another at each other or a silence so tense that it would make anyone who'd step into this house uncomfortable as hell. But as soon as she had closed the backdoor behind her, she immediately felt that something was… different. Soft, romantic violin music and inaudible muttering could be heard, clearly coming from the living room. What the heck? Kaitlyn tried to be as quiet as possible when she practically tiptoed from the kitchen to the living room, quickly peeking inside once she reached it. Her parents didn't notice her at all. Their attention was hogged up by the romantic movie that was being broadcasted on the television. What Kaitlyn was seeing was an incredibly rare sight. They were cuddling up on the couch, looking like they were having a genuinely good, relaxing time together; they had lit up some scented candles and poured themselves two glasses of red wine. So was there still some love between them after all? The dread of going back into a warzone of a life at home she had been feeling for nearly the entire day disappeared like a small patch of leftover snow in a ray of sunlight, filling Kaitlyn with relief. Thank goodness… it was the best kind of change she could imagine for this household. The girl decided not to disturb her parents and headed upstairs.

In her bedroom she lied down on her bed with a comic book she took from _Casa La_ AJ in her hands (she couldn't wait for tomorrow to read how Batman would escape from the Joker's deadly trap, she had promised AJ to bring the comic back tomorrow morning and not to spoil the ending). Though the story was very exciting to read, she couldn't help but think about their plan for tomorrow. Their plan was to take the bus to Bangor to visit the arcade hall that had recently opened, so of course they had to check that out. It just happened to be the same idea Liv had before she… Kaitlyn barely managed to push back a lump with the size of a brick in her throat. It almost felt like treason to Liv's memory, if she had to be honest. Not only that, but she suddenly also felt like it was wrong to have fun despite the fact her friend had died. It was that same feeling she had when her grandfather died after losing a short and unfortunate battle against a sudden case of pneumonia when she was around eight (or was it nine?) years old. She remembered feeling ashamed of herself when she found herself giggling about two classmates goofing around during lunch break one week after the funeral, feeling like she should still be mourning her grandfather's passing. Kaitlyn remembered confessing this to Mrs. Ferguson and she told her that this was normal; losing a loved one was difficult for any person, but life still goes on for you, as it should. As long as you would keep carrying that person's memory in your heart, then said person would never really be gone. In the meanwhile, life still went on and you should be able to live it to the fullest. Thinking these words her ever so kind teacher had spoken to her did help to make her feel better. Of course she would always remember her late friend, in all of her tomboy glory. How could she possibly ever forget her? Liv would forever remain her friend, even if she was gone. And she probably would want her to keep on living her life. Kaitlyn promised that she would try her best. Now with that heavy sense of sadness mixed with guilt disappearing into the background, she was able to focus on her comic book again.

Muffled but loud mumbling emerged from the living room after ten minutes or so, which turned into furious shouting.

Oh God… here they went again. Kaitlyn's stomach instantly wrapped itself into a tight knot with so much force that it caused her to feel absolutely sick.

Why? Why couldn't it ever be nice in this house? Why did they have to be like this? Have they ever considered how much their daughter was emotionally suffering because of what they constantly did? This was exactly why she dreaded coming home, why she much rather went to the woods than stay here in this explosive hellhole, why she couldn't enjoy living here. All of that was their fault, it was all because of them. The sickening feeling then slowly began to change into genuine resentment once she realized all of this. It grew so strong that it nearly made her want to clench her fists, only not doing this because she just happened to be holding the comic book in her hands and wishing not to return it tomorrow to AJ all crumpled up. As each second passed, the argument that had unfolded downstairs grew more and more explosive, growing loud enough for Kaitlyn to understand about what they were fighting about this time; it was about her father acting like a drunken idiot. Kaitlyn had no idea how much wine he had drunk, but clearly it was enough to send her mother flying into a blinding rage, judging by how loudly she was screaming at her husband.

Enough was enough.

If they were allowed to shout at each other, then she should be allowed to shout at them as well.

Kaitlyn closed the comic book, got off her bed, stormed out of her bedroom and walked down the stairs with genuine anger boiling inside her. She was so fed up with this and she wasn't afraid of letting her parents know about this. As soon as she got downstairs, she headed straight towards the living room, where her mother yelled at her father about how much she regretted marrying such a piece of shit like him, to which her father responded by telling her to shut the fuck up.

She was so done with this.

'Cut it out! Both of you, just cut it out!' the girl angrily yelled at the top of her lungs, instantly catching their attention. She noticed both of them raising their eyebrows in mild surprise, but the surprise only lasted for a good three seconds, during which they had also fallen silent.

'Kaitlyn! Stay out of this!' her mother snapped at her. 'This is none of your business! This is something between adults! Go upstairs, now!'

'No, I won't!' Kaitlyn replied. 'Why can't you two ever stop fighting? Do you have any idea what it does to me? I'm so sick of you constantly fighting! I hate it! It makes me feel miserable! Not only that, it makes me want to fucking puke! Every time when things here start to feel better, you always come up with some bullshit reason to fight like crazy! It's all because of your fights that I can't stand living here!'

'Then go live somewhere else then, if you're so miserable here!' her mother furiously shouted back. 'You ungrateful brat, you can go live with that scummy Lee girl for all I care!'

There was so many angry words stuck in Kaitlyn's throat that they clogged it up, she wanted to say so much, and yet couldn't do it. Simply going upstairs wasn't going to do the trick. Filled with hatred towards her parents, she decided she didn't want to stay in this house for another second. If they still wanted to fight like two idiots after all this, she didn't want to be around. Kaitlyn turned around and went upstairs to quickly put on her shoes. Then she headed back downstairs and ran to the front door. And just before her parents at any chance to call out to her, she was already outside and swinging the door shut behind her with a loud bang.

While she walked down the street, still steaming with genuine anger, a frisky breeze rolled down the street. Once the cold brushed against her bare legs, Kaitlyn seemed to slightly snap out of it and let out a trembling sigh. The anger was still there, but another feeling, which slowly grew stronger and stronger by the second, soon emerged and managed to overlap the other, so much that it nearly brought tears to her eyes. God, she was feeling so… lonely, all of a sudden. It was horrible. All she wished for right now was a pair of arms around her, a soothing voice to tell her that everything was going to be okay and some pleasant warmth that could put her at ease… and there was only one person she could think of when it came to all these needs. She needed comfort, she needed it so badly. The girl looked up at the sky. The evening had slowly began to fully set in; she remembered the sky having this dreamy blue-purplish shade when she had arrived home, but now that some time had passed, it had clearly turned darker. She had to hurry up before it would become night would fall… and she knew damn well what was still lurking out there. One single shiver down her spine was all that was needed for her to walk as fast as she could, all while trying her best to push back her tears.

It took Kaitlyn most likely a little less than half an hour for her to finally arrive at Ziggler's. By this time her arms and legs had grown so cold that it almost felt like it was autumn instead of summer. And much to her dismay, she had miserably failed in trying not cry while she had been walking. Oh man, she must be looking like hell right now… Kaitlyn did have an idea on how her face was looking like and she knew that it was everything but a pretty sight. The area around her eyes was feeling warm, having definitely turned red due to her tears spilling out; she dearly hoped this wouldn't be too visible when she would enter the bar. The girl let out a shaky sigh and opened the door in front of her.

Even though there was faint smell of cigarettes and beer lingering in the air, she was surprised to see that not one customer could be found in this bar. Was it perhaps because of the time? Was it still too early for people to drop by? Those questions soon didn't matter at all, because she saw that one person she had been longing to see from the moment she walked away from her home. He was standing behind the bar, having just finished drying off a beer glass and now looking up in surprise. Kaitlyn managed to curl her mouth into a small smile as a warm sense of safety developed in her chest.

'Oh… hey, Kaitlyn!' Dolph said, putting down the glass. 'How's it going? Where is AJ?'

'Hey Dolph…'

That's when the blonde teen saw the reddened area around the girl's eyes and nose. He had a friendly smile on his face while had greeted her earlier, which quickly disappeared as his face now expressed worry. That's when Kaitlyn knew that the red spots still had been visible after all.

'What's the matter?' Dolph asked with a slightly softened voice. 'Have you been crying? What happened to you?'

This was what she wanted, what she needed so badly… Just as she was heading towards the bar to hop onto a stool and reveal to him how the explosive drama that happened at home was what made her come here, she noticed that Dolph was already approaching her. She stood still, allowing him to get closer to her. It was just the two of them in this bar; outside from the classic rock and roll coming from the jukebox, there wasn't any other sound that implicated that someone else was around. The closer Dolph got to her, the stronger this amazing feeling in the pits of the girl's stomach became, pushing all the negativity from earlier away and making her forget all about it. She finally saw him again, it filled her up with so much happiness, you couldn't even imagine; it almost brought tears to her eyes. Though her smile grew a little bigger, it still had something saddening. Dolph was now standing in front of her with that same worried expression on his face. Never had a boy been this concerned about her… it made her love him even more for that.

'Jesus, Kaitlyn…' Dolph mumbled as he studied her partially reddened, warm face. 'You want to tell me about it?'

The girl didn't speak one single word, letting the feeling inside her overwhelm her. She fully and utterly foolishly surrendered herself to it without a second thought. Her arms found Dolph's waist and closed themselves around it, pulling his body close against hers. As soon as she rested her cheek against his chest, Kaitlyn dared to let out a little sigh of pure bliss and close her eyes. All Dolph could do was look down at her with his eyes widened in surprise, looking for any words to say, but whatever he tried to say only came out as awkward, astonished stuttering. Kaitlyn didn't notice any of this. This was bliss, this was happiness, this was how safety and comfort felt like… The one-sided, wonderful embrace was now lasting for seven seconds, but to her, it felt like an eternity, in the best way imaginable. It was then when Dolph was finally able to properly react to it; he responded by putting his hands on her shoulders and trying his best to push her away from him without hurting her.

Kaitlyn had been deaf for every sound around her when she had been caught in this impulsive moment of bliss... that was, until she heard a sob that was so loud that not even the front door could muffle it.

Her heart immediately sank to her feet like an anchor when she opened her eyes and looked at the window inside the front door.

Staring right back at her, most likely from the moment she dared to embrace Dolph, was AJ.

Tears wouldn't stop streaming down the girl's cheeks. Not once did she look away from them, as if it were impossible for her to do so. Kaitlyn saw her chin and the corner of the flat line that was her mouth visibly trembling, the latter only slightly opening once to let out another heartbreaking, betrayed sob. And that's when she saw something that AJ didn't have during the day while they were hanging out together; it was clear that Roberta Lee had been taking out her blind, drug-fueled anger on her own daughter again, judging by the small but painful-looking abrasion that was now present on the right side of AJ's forehead.

The realization of what she had done to her own friend struck Kaitlyn like the smash of a sledgehammer; it made her eyes widened in pure shock.

Oh God…

'No…' was all she could utter with a trembling voice, immediately letting go of Dolph.

Right on that moment, AJ let out another sob and quickly walked away from the bar. Panic began to mercilessly set in when Kaitlyn exclaimed her friend's name, ran towards the front door and opened it, nearly tripping over her own feet once she was outside. She wasn't too far away from her.

'AJ, wait! Please!' the girl cried out as she ran after her as fast as she could. She caught up with her in less than three seconds, getting close enough to her to reach out and grab her arm. 'Wait! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-'

As soon as she felt the hand of the girl who she thought were her best and only friend on her arm, AJ furiously pulled her arm away from her, instantly breaking free from her grip and proceeding to give Kaitlyn the hardest shove she had given to any person. The impact was hard enough to knock the girl down to the ground, on which she landed with a painful thud.

'Get the fuck away from me!' AJ furiously screamed at her as more tears from sheer hurt began running down her face. 'You bitch! You bitch! How could you do this to me?! You knew that I had a crush on Dolph, I trusted you enough to tell you that! I trusted you enough to open up and let you be in my life! I saw the look on your face when you were hugging him! Just when I thought that I had finally found someone who was willing to be my friend, someone who doesn't treat me like a piece of shit! I fucking trusted you! I thought you were my friend!'

'I-I'm sorry, AJ…' Kaitlyn whimpered. 'I… I…'

'Shut up! I'm done with you! I don't want to be friends with you any longer, Kaitlyn! You are just like everyone else! I don't want to see you ever again! You fucking bitch, I hate you! I hate you!'  
Then AJ turned around and ran away from Kaitlyn as fast as she possibly could, all while sobbing uncontrollably.


	27. Tag, You're It

**Chapter 27**

 **Tag, You're It**

 **Warning: this chapter contains a situation depicting sexual assault. If you feel uncomfortable with this, skip it.**

Fire had been lit inside her throat inside her throat and lungs, that's how badly they were burning. Every time she was forced to take a lungful of cold evening air, it hurt, it hurt so fucking much. And that same agonizing fire had spread towards her tears as well, since they were so warm with rage that her eyes were stinging. But that pain was absolutely nothing to the unbelievably severe emotional pain that overwhelmed her, practically swallowing her up. A high-pitched, ringing noise filled up her entire head, blocking out any sound around her. The sides of her head were pounding with a pulsing pain, as if it was about to explode into bloody pieces at any second. She had tried to hold back her tears, convinced that she wasn't going to cry for a bitch like Kaitlyn Bonin, but she had miserably failed; her tears spilled out and rolled down her cold cheeks. She was running as fast as her legs allowed her to, wishing more than anything else to get as far away from the hurt that had mercilessly been inflicted on her as possible.

She was just like every single damn girl in this town… goddamn it, she should have never trusted her!

Aside from the immense hurt and rage that went through her head, AJ also felt sheer embarrassment. God, how could she have been so stupid? She should have known from the moment Kaitlyn had spoke to her when she was on that bridge in the woods the other day. She should have never opened up to her. She should have known that she wasn't any different than Carmella or any other stupid bitch from that school. But it felt so nice to think that there was someone out there who would look past the fact that mom was the local junkie and treated her like an actual human being, like a friend…

That must have been her plan all along, from the very start. AJ was completely convinced about it; Kaitlyn wanted her to open up to her, make her reveal the things that she had been trying to hide from others as much as she could (her absolutely miserable life at home, the meaningful refuge that was her hideout in the woods, her shameless feelings for Dolph). Once she had decided she knew enough about her, she'd end her fucked up little game by hurting her in the worst way possible… and she had unmistakably succeeded.

AJ wanted to scream, she was that hurt.

Right when she dared to slow down her pace, her head suddenly began to feel unbelievably light, somehow causing that ringing noise that was echoing through her ears to increase in volume. Black spot clouded almost her entire vision, nearly rendering her blind. Oh Jesus, this was all too much, way too much, she was going to faint, oh fuck… The petite girl stopped running, hunched forward and placed her hands on the sides of her head in an attempt to push the increasing dizziness away. It barely worked. Damn it, she didn't want to collapse right here on the cold, hard pavement, it would only humiliate her more. If someone would happen to pass by, the thought of helping the daughter of Roberta Lee getting back up on her feet and call an ambulance for her wouldn't cross that person's mind for one second, she was pretty damn sure of that. While trying her best to stay calm despite the immense emotional pain, AJ looked around her to see if she could sit down somewhere. The sky had noticeably turned darker in such a relatively short time, which had caused the few lampposts down the street to be activated; it was bound to turn entirely dark in an hour or two. It wasn't hard to figure out she would make it to _Casa La_ AJ back in time before she would pass out cold and probably lie on the street for the rest of the night, so she had to find something nearby to sit on, as quick as possible. Just then, AJ realized that she was standing near the T-shaped parking lot of the local supermarket… and through that horrible light feeling in her head, she remembered there was were benches over there. It was not too far away, she should make it. AJ headed towards the parking lot, where you could barely see a thing due to the poor lighting the very few lampposts that had been installed over there produced, though it was strong enough for pale moths to be attracted to it and flutter around it in an excited dance. As expected at this time of the day, the supermarket had been closed; it was pitch black inside the big building. AJ walked across the parking lot as fast as she could, fearing that she would immediately faint if she would try to either try running or slow down her pace. Not one car could be spotted anywhere, it was just her; had she noticed this right now, it would have only made that feeling of loneliness even worse. The benches were just a meter away from her, just a little bit more, damn it, the spots and dizziness were getting worse and worse by the second… But then, thankfully, just when she was this dangerously close to falling down on her knees, the petite girl managed to reach that one bench on the far right and immediately sat down.

AJ was all alone, once again; it was just her on this dimly-lit parking lot.

More tears that were impossible to hold back spilled over and rolled down her cold cheeks when she pulled her legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees. She must have clearly forgotten about the painful abrasion on her forehead, because when she rested her damaged forehead against her knees, she felt a mean sting, briefly hissed in pain and lifted her head. The stinging pain spread through the center of her forehead for a few seconds before it eventually softened and disappeared. It had been worse earlier; her mother had struck her so hard that she had actually felt a drop of blood trickling down to the bridge of her nose. And no, AJ hadn't done anything to make her flip the fuck out like this. All she had done when she came home was standing in the kitchen, heating up some spaghetti with tomato sauce in a can, and all of a sudden her mother got this close to her face and began yelling at her for not heating up enough food for the two of them, which was such bullshit since there was enough spaghetti for the both of them. AJ had made this perfectly clear to her, but the heroin in her body made in incapable of understanding her reasoning. Roberta Lee responded by hitting her own daughter on the forehead as hard as she could with the large wooden spoon she had been using to stir the pasta with. Harsh, ugly, unforgivable words were exchanged and the petite girl escaped the house immediately after her mother expressed her regret of ever giving birth to such a worthless piece of shit daughter like her.

AJ's plans of heading straight to her hideout in the woods as she usually would do immediately changed once she stepped outside and a cold gust of evening wind caressed her arms and ankles. Her desire to spend the rest of the night inside her comfortable, little hut, away from that horrible, abusive junkie that was her mother, was overwhelmed by the bigger desire of feeling a gentle, male touch on her shoulders. She couldn't help but feel so immensely lonely at that moment and she knew that going to _Casa La_ AJ wasn't going to give her much comfort. Kaitlyn was already home, there was no way she was still going out now; she'd probably much rather stay inside a house where two adults argued like there was no tomorrow than go out and risk ending up being the next victim of that psycho who slaughtered Alicia Fox and Liv Morgan. Perhaps AJ didn't notice it herself, but the loneliness was only fueled by the tragic fact that she had no father figure to run to. But there was thankfully one other male role model she could go to, someone who had always been good to her, someone who would never hurt her like everybody else (she had made an exception for Kaitlyn back then… and what a stupid decision that was) did.

That's why AJ had decided to head to Ziggler's; instead of the comfort and companionship she had needed so much on that night, she received such a huge amount of pain that she was unable to take.

Most of her resentment was pointed at Kaitlyn, but that didn't mean Dolph was safe from it. Fuck him for letting her hug him like that. That's right. He could go fuck himself. Nothing was left of the crush she had been feeling for him for months, not even an ounce of willingness to forgive him for all this. So remarkable how innocent love can turn into pure hate in the blink of an eye, though AJ didn't really bother to think about this at the moment. Embarrassment struck her for a second, making her realize how stupid she was to ever develop a secret crush for a guy who would end up hurting her in the end. If she had known from the moment before she had decided to boldly walk towards him and his group of friends on that night in March to ask them if they could give her three dollars so she could buy something to eat and drink that she would fall for his kindness but that he would cruelly reject her feelings since they meant absolutely nothing to him, she never would have spoken to him and much rather prefer to not eat at all on that night. God, what a fucking dumbass she had been all this…

That's when it struck AJ. She was never meant to deserve love, nor friendship. None of that was ever meant for her, nor will it ever be, no matter how old she would become. This was why her father left when she was still a toddler and never came home again, her mother was a foul-tempered drug addict, all residents of Hope's Creek treated her like she was the biggest scum, not one kid wanted to be her friend, why no boy loved her. She was meant to be abused and mistreated. She was nothing. No, she was even less than nothing; just some disgusting accident that never should have happened, but still happened either way for some damn reason.

AJ Lee's entire existence was a mistake.

Now that this was all perfectly clear to her, she continued to barely audibly sob for what felt like forever to her (which was in fact fifteen minutes) only stopping when she was convinced that she had shed all the tears she had. The petite girl let out a trembling sigh when she looked up, her cheeks now cold and wet and her eyes stinging with warmth. Thankfully she wasn't feeling lightheaded anymore, but that didn't mean at all that she was feeling any better. In fact… she was harboring more resentment towards this shithole that was Hope's Creek more than she had ever done before. She now knew that absolutely nobody was going to love her for who she was, that was for sure now. AJ scoffed bitterly and brushed with the back of her hand against her cheeks, wiping away the remains of her tears. Fuck them all. She didn't need a friend before she met Kaitlyn and she sure as hell wouldn't need one any time. The only male person she knew in her life that had ever given her a sense of safety was now gone too, but fuck it, she didn't need one either. It was just her now. She was alone, she would always be alone and she was willing to accept this fate, for that was how it was meant to be for her. The only person you have when you have nobody is only yourself, she knew that. It had been like that for years, she had accepted and been fine with that before, so why not now again? She would be okay if she was on her own. The petite realized that having no friends or love interests automatically meant that she wouldn't be hurt or deceived. Yes… she would much rather be alone for the rest of her life and not be hurt than befriending people who would betray her in the end for as long as she'd live.

AJ had fully accepted that lonely, but safe remainder of her life that was still ahead of her.

It was completely quiet on the poorly lit parking lot; not one sound could be heard; only her shaking breathing if one would get close enough to the petite girl. The moon wasn't going to offer any light for this night, but a few stars had already appeared at the darkened sky. Not one car had passed by the parking lot of the supermarket during the entire time she was crying her eyes out, let alone enter it.

That's when it began creeping in; a sensation that AJ was unable to feel earlier due to her intense emotional state and the resentful thoughts that had stormed through her fragile mind. It began with a strange, unpleasant, small tingle below her spine, a tingle that carefully climbed up her spine like an invisible spider under her skin, growing colder and worse by the second. Something else came along with that feeling. Something was formed in the pits of her stomach, something heavy and equally unpleasant, as if she had swallowed a round stone or something. Her shaking breathing stopped because she was now practically holding her breath. AJ slightly widened her eyes, not daring to make one sound, unlike earlier. What was this? Why was she feeling like this?

Why did it feel like… something was watching her?

Goosebumps appeared all over arms and legs as she silently glanced around her. Nothing could be seen in the faint light of the few street lights on the parking lot, which could easily make someone chalk this eerie, unexplainable feeling up to a classic case of unjustified paranoia and instantly calm down. This wasn't the case for AJ Lee, though. If nobody was watching her from the light… then there could only be one place left of where she could possibly be watched. That would be the darkness; the darkness that was all around her. Just then, the feeling worsened, almost making her believe that the sight from dozens of pairs of eyes, (some soulless, some insane, most of them predatory) were aimed at her, hiding in the black shadows the night had provided them. AJ could feel her heartbeat rising as this newfound anxiety slowly began to take over more and more. What the fuck…? It was impossible to shake that awful, suffocating feeling of dread off and it was even more impossible for her to get up from the bench and sprint across the perhaps not-so empty parking lot like a frightened deer that had sensed the presence from a pack of hungry wolves. The petite girl's entire body now felt ice cold, despite the fact that this summer night hadn't become that cold just yet. Her fingernails dug into the skin of her legs, deep enough to leave crescent-shaped in them. Oh God, something was staring at her from the dark, she was convinced of it… AJ continued to glance from left, to ahead, to right, and vice versa, like a small child sitting up in her bed that was too afraid to fall asleep due to the darkness around her, expecting imagined, vicious monsters to crawl from behind a dresser, door or under her bed at any moment to drag her out of the safe haven that was her bed and grotesquely devour her. The petite girl didn't dare to move a single muscle, as if she was afraid that one little movement would be enough to trigger whatever was watching her from the shadows.

The sense of those 'eyes' being all around her was strong… but for some reason, their presence was the strongest on her left side.

She didn't want to, oh dear God, she really didn't want to. But she had to.

Slowly turning her head, AJ forced herself to look at her left, where a portion of the parking spots were hidden in the shadows. And it was from there where that unexplainable, terrifying presence was coming from. Looking at the darkness gave her the feeling that she was staring right back into the eyes of whatever predator had been stalking her for what felt like an agonizing century, even though it had only taken a mere half minute to instill the suffocating fear into the young girl.

Light suddenly took up all space in her sight, driving away the darkness, so bright and white that she had to clench her eyes shut and further cover them with her hands. She had jolted when the light was unexpectedly turned on, gasped, even. During those few seconds where she had her eyes protected from the brightness, AJ wondered what the hell could produce such a bright light. Her eyes, that had been stinging due to her excessive crying a few minutes before, were now hurting even worse, but the girl forced herself to open them nonetheless. AJ peeked through the small gaps between her fingers and managed to adjust herself to the brightness… and that's when she saw him.

He had been hiding in the shadows this entire time, his sight had been set on her from the moment she had sat down on the bench and broke down in tears, he had made her foolishly believe she had been alone that entire time. She hadn't even caught a glimpse of a shape of what could have been a vehicle when she had been looking around, all thanks to the darkness he had been staying in for who knows how long. Those headlights had been aimed at her for the whole time and only now did he decide it was the right time to switch them on. The van that had been parked next to her, just a few meters away from her, was entirely black, except for a few rusty spots on the passenger's door, the bumper and near the handle of the sliding door. The license plate on the front had taken off. She indeed had been staring back into the eyes of something horrifying; those eyes belonged to the driver of that van.

His true face was hidden behind a plush, brown rabbit mask. Even though his eyes were shielded by the material of which his cartoonish eyes were made of, AJ could still feel his intense gaze piercing through it and going straight through her soul. The 'rabbit's' face was frozen in an eerily cheerful expression, making the petite girl's blood turn even colder and paralyzing her. Her stalker didn't move for an inch and neither did she. Then, after ten long seconds, he was the one who moved. He slowly raised his gloved hand and waved at her, carefully, as if his arm would snap if he would wave faster.

No… Oh no… Was it him…? Was it him, who…?

It just had to be.

AJ felt a scream of horror welling up, filling up her throat; at that same time, her instincts were hysterically screaming the magic words that made her body snap out of the fear-induced paralysis.

Run, goddamn it! Run!

And that was exactly what AJ Lee did. Her legs still felt heavy, so unbelievably heavy, but thanks to the will to run for her fucking life and escape from what undoubtedly was the monster that had been terrorizing Hope's Creek for weeks, she managed to get off the bench and started running as if the Devil himself was chasing her. Yes, that had to be it, that had to be Devil sitting inside that van and waving at her, probably just like he did to Alicia Fox, Liv Morgan and Carmella Van Dale! Her rapid footsteps echoed through the parking lot as she ran across it. Her heart was now pounding her painful throat, the night air felt like tiny razor blades in her air pipes, her sore eyes widened with pure fear. The petite girl refused to look behind her, fearing that he would immediately show up behind her if she dared to do so… but unfortunately for her, the Devil wasn't going to let her get away.

She hadn't even made it halfway the lot when she heard an engine running, which made the fright in her tenfold. Her sight was set to the road right ahead of her, for the first time in her life she was actually praying to God for something, and that was for someone to drive by, spot her and let her inside the car despite the fact that she was the daughter of Hope's Creek local drug addict and speed off without questioning her any further. Not even when the sound of a roaring engine became louder did she want to look behind, she had to keep running as fast as she could, she could still make it, as long as she kept runni-

Just then, it was like a giant struck her right in the back; the impact was strong enough to knock her straight to the ground in the blink of an eye. AJ shrieked in surprise and pain as she landed on the asphalt, which scraped open her lower arms, deep enough to make the scratches bleed tiny drops of blood. Hearing the engine behind her and seeing the asphalt around her being bathed in a large puddle of bright light, she instantly realized that he had struck her with the van, not enough to kill her, not yet, that is… Even though the impact hadn't been strong enough to break any bone in her body, it was enough to hurt and stun her, making the world around her look as if it was shaking through her eyes. When she attempted to get up and continue her escape, her whole body was aching so badly that she collapsed back onto the cold asphalt. Terrified whimpering escaped past AJ's trembling lips as she heard a door opening, followed by slow, slightly muffled footsteps that were heading right towards her.

And then he was standing next to her. Tears of sheer fright spilled down over the petite girl's cheeks when she saw him from the corner of her eye; that mask had been part of the old, plus costume he donned. More tears emerged when her attacker squatted down and stared at her.

'Hello there, little girl.' he spoke. His voice was unnaturally deep, demonic; this cemented the thought of this person being the Devil in a stale-smelling rabbit costume. 'I am Mr. Buns. You and I are going to have so much fun together.'

'No… No…!'

There was no way in hell this plea was going to change his mind. Mr. Buns, the demon of Hope's Creek, ignored her frightened plea and tears, walked around her aching body, grabbed her by the ankles and quickly began dragging her as if she weighed nothing. The sensation of being dragged across the cold ground, being dragged right to the sliding door of the van, made the fear and panic even worse. She was absolutely helpless and she knew it; the petite girl could only scream, beg her attacker to let her go and move her arms over the asphalt in a desperate attempt to grab anything that could stop him from pulling her closer to that van, but to little avail.

Then, when she had been dragged close enough to the vehicle, he picked her up and tossed her inside. AJ landed on the cold, metal bottom, causing her already aching body to jolt with pain once more. It just so happened that the van had stopped near one of the lot's few lampposts, of which its faint light slightly shone into the opened back of the vehicle. All the petite girl would see was a large piece of orange tarp on her right, placed in a corner and clearly hiding something underneath it, big enough to be a human body; roughly the size of a young girl, she realized. And those large, dark splatters near the tarp that stained the bottom… oh Jesus, what was that? Were those splatters what she thought they were…?

The faint light was immediately mostly blocked out when Mr. Buns entered, hastily rolled the sliding door behind him and hovered over her. The sliding door hadn't been closed properly, causing one thin ray of light to shine through the gap.

'Beautiful…' he practically whispered with a trembling voice.

Then the touches followed. The repulsive, twisted, perverted touches that instantly marked the death of what had to be the most precious phase of her life, creep under her skin and stay there to remind her of them for all the years that were to come. AJ couldn't fight them off, all because of her own body, which had frozen solid with fear and horror. She felt his hands touching her on every spot, slowly traveling over certain parts twice or more, often squeezing and his breathing, Jesus Christ… that ragged, demonic breathing of his, it went right through the fabric of his mask and warmed the right side of her face, he was that close to her. She had turned her head away, clenched her eyes shut and softly sobbed, hysterically praying for all of this to end. Oh God, make it stop, help, please help, somebody, anyone…

Seconds which felt like centuries of torture to her passed by. Only after those seconds passed, all the time it took for an everlasting trauma to be born, was she given a chance to escape what else her assaulter had in store for her. Mr. Buns had seemingly decided that he had touched her enough and got off her; that's when AJ shoved him away from her with all the strength she had inside her, breaking through the paralysis inside her. The plush monster fell on his side, which provided her the seconds she needed to get the hell away. And that's exactly what she did. She launched herself to the sliding door as if her life depended on it, her hands found the handle and she pulled, with so much adrenaline-fueled strength that a loud bang could be heard when the sliding door was fully opened. She almost fell on her face when she stumbled out of the van, but managed to regain her balance before her arms could touch the ground.

She saw it once she had escaped outside into the cooled night to her freedom. A car with its windows down was driving by the parking lot with a slow speed, a car she recognized like no other. Two people were sitting inside, one of them constantly looking around with a worried expression on her face; hers and the face of the other person belonged to two certain people that she had been resenting so much just a few moments ago.

AJ Lee screamed with the volume that only a victim of an attempted murder could produce.

There was absolutely no way in hell nobody could have heard her cry for help, it had been so loud that even a deaf person could have heard it. Thankfully this was proven when she saw Kaitlyn Bonin turning her head into her direction, gasp in shock, turn her head back to Dolph and rapidly mouthing something she couldn't hear from this distance, but whatever it was, it did make the older teen turn the car right towards the parking lot with screeching tires as he sped up. Oh God, oh thank God! More tears spilled out of the corners of the traumatized, frightened girl while she ran towards them as fast as she could.

'Help me!' she screamed hysterically. 'It's him! It's him! Help me, please! He-'

'Get the hell back here!' that same demonic voice that was bound to haunt all nightmares she would have for the remainder of her life bellowed behind her. One of Mr. Buns' gloved hands found a grip in her hair, firmly grabbing onto it and yanking it so hard that it made AJ shriek in pain, snapping her head back and stopping in her tracks. He viciously began dragging her back towards the van and AJ knew that once she was back in there and he'd manage to get away, he would surely murder her afterwards, just like he had done to Alicia Fox, Liv Morgan, and who knows, maybe Carmella Van Dale as well. The petite girl cried out in agony as she scratched at her attacker's hand in an attempt to weaken his grip, but to no avail; he continued pulling her towards his vehicle with all the strength he had.

Tires screeched and came to a halt less than a meter away from them and two doors were opened less than a second afterwards, followed by a pair of rapid footsteps that were heading straight towards them.

'AJ!' Dolph Ziggler shouted. 'Let go of her, you fucker!'

It took one single blow with his fist to the masked face of Mr. Buns to make him finally release his victim; Dolph struck him so hard that the impact knocked him straight to the ground, landing with a thud that was painful enough to make him briefly grunt. The tension in her scalp was lifted so quickly that it almost made the petite girl dizzy, but snapped out of it when a pair of smaller hands grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her back, away from the older teen and her attacker. Those hands belonged to Kaitlyn. As soon as she had pulled her close to her, her friend instantly embraced her, as if her arms were the strongest shield in the world. Dolph was now lifting Mr. Buns from the ground by the fabric around his neck and wasn't planning on showing him any mercy, launching a few more hard punches on his head once he was pulled back up on his feet.

'You fucking sick bastard! Goddamn you!' the older teen yelled at him. 'You-'

Just before he could land another well-deserved punch on his head, Mr. Buns fought back with unfortunately a lot more strength that Dolph had. Once he saw the opportunity, he struck him on his right temple with so much strength that it was now Dolph who was the one to be send to the ground, with black, misty spots clouding his sight.

There was no longer any time for him to shift his interest back to 'his' precious little girl. Not offering her or Kaitlyn one single glance, Mr. Buns sprinted towards the driver's side of the van and got inside. Less than one and a half second later, the engine was turned on and he immediately drove away from them, making the tires screech loudly in the progress. No license plate could be spotted on the back either. And before Kaitlyn and Dolph had any chance to run after the bastard and yell at him to come back, he had already left the parking lot, speeding off into the darkness and out of their sight.

'It's okay, AJ…' a wide-eyed Kaitlyn whispered with a trembling voice during the surreal seconds that followed, still holding her paled, shaking friend in her arms; by now, AJ was clinging onto her as if her life depended on it. 'He is gone now, you're safe, we're here, it's all fine, you are…'

But those comforting words did absolutely nothing to calm AJ down. When her legs gave up on her, Kaitlyn sank down to the asphalt with her without letting her go, not even when AJ Lee found herself unable to stop screaming and crying at the top of her lungs; her childhood had died along with the summer of 1980 on that very night.


	28. Bitter Aftermath

**Chapter 28**

 **Bitter Aftermath**

Dolph Ziggler couldn't help but slightly frown in mild frustration while he listened to continuous, rhythmic, monotone beeping on the other side of the line. That unique smell rain would leave after pouring on a summer day had found its way inside the phone booth, and while the blonde bar owner had always enjoyed this particular odor for as long as he could remember, he wasn't focused on that at this moment. He had expected Brian to pick up seconds after he was done dialing his phone number, but as the beeping went on, it became clear that he wasn't going to pick up right now. Strange… wasn't he supposed to be home? At least, that's what Dolph assumed, given that his friend was planning to call the police on that asshole ex of Kaitlyn for shattering the front window. Shouldn't he be staying home for the police to ask him questions about the vandalism to his house? I mean, that's what it should be like, right? After all, they would have to ask him about the type of car that violent jackass was driving in, the license plate and physical features of the driver. (Yeah, a possibly permanently broken nose, a bloody, tear and snot-stained face, and a shattered ego would definitely have to be added to the description of Bobby Roode if they still would go out to find him, the blonde owner thought; though this thought may have made him snigger in brief amusement at other times, this was not the right time) He had noticed that during their drive back to Hope's Creek (and leaving a trail of hopefully not too much shattered glass behind them in the meanwhile) Kaitlyn had been glancing at the back mirror a couple of times despite the fact she had firmly told Bobby to fuck off back home and move all of his belongings out of their place by the time she would return. She hadn't show one hint of fear during that moment, but perhaps some did creep its way up in the pits of her stomach after all on their way back. And yes, Dolph did admit, he also had looked behind them two or maybe three times to make absolutely sure that the two-toned woman's ex wasn't stupid enough to break his promise of leaving while accepting the fact that he wasn't ever going to get her back and decide to follow them once more finish off what he had started earlier. Not that the blonde bar owner was afraid of Bobby Roode, oh no; he would gladly beat the ever-living hell out of that asshole all over again if he had to. Thankfully it turned out this wasn't needed after all, since Bobby's vehicle wasn't spotted once during the whole drive back to town.

At least the mystery of the fucker who had been stalking Kaitlyn during most her stay had been solved… only two more harrowing mysteries left to find answers to.

Dolph and Kaitlyn had stopped at the parking lot of the local supermarket with the intention of using the hopefully still functioning payphone that had been installed on said parking lot to call Brian and inform him about what had transpired earlier just outside of Hope's Creek; of course, they mutually agreed to leave out one certain, steamy part that had happened moments before Bobby had showed himself, an agreement which had resulted in the lovers both briefly chuckling, which had been a short but welcome moment that helped to lighten the mood, even if it was just a little. But yes, Dolph, and maybe Kaitlyn as well, did have to briefly admit that it this did feel inappropriate, given what had happened earlier. Who knows what that bastard Bobby could have done to Kaitlyn if he hadn't been around to save her; just thinking about the gruesome possibilities was enough to turn his skin ice cold. The raining had just stopped shortly before the two arrived at the parking lot and by then, the oddly delightful smell of warm asphalt washed by fresh rain had completely filled up the car due to the shattered window on Kaitlyn's side. The two-toned woman stayed inside the car while her lover got out, headed to the payphone and accidently stepped in a small puddle of rain water while he did so.

He had waited a few more seconds to give his friend a bit more time to pick up the phone. When the blonde bar owner finally gave up the hope of Brian answering him, he let out a frustrated sigh. The phone receiver was put back in its holder with a soft click and he exited the booth, taking that smell of rain along with him. And while he glanced to his right, he noticed a trail of small but still visible pieces of glass, starting from the pavement and leading right towards his parked vehicle. Damn it… hopefully nobody would drive or walk over that, he hoped. Up until today, he had never known how much strength it would take for a full-grown man to drive his whole fist through a car window; this is what a toxic combination of alcohol, possible denial with desperation, unhealthy obsession and overwhelming, sheer jealousy could do someone, Dolph came to realize. All of that must have had fueled the strength Bobby already had inside him and he was convinced that he was going to use all of that while punishing Kaitlyn for ditching him if she happened to be alone at that moment. Thinking about all of that made Dolph look to the road near the parking lot for one more time, just to make absolutely sure they were no longer being followed. This small fit of paranoia thankfully turned out to be unnecessary. Goddamn you, Bobby Roode.

Just then, when Dolph was about to head back to his car to inform Kaitlyn about Brian's mildly odd absence, he saw that his lover had gotten out of the vehicle and was now leaning against the side, staring at the rest of the parking lot ahead of her with an expression on her face that instantly worried the blonde bar owner. Those lovely brown-greenish eyes of hers were softened with a look of sadness; her mouth had turned into a flat line. Small cuts stained with dried up blood could be seen on the palm of her left hand, still looking fresh and painful. Dolph planned on putting band-aids on them as soon as they'd return to Brian's place. Even when he was approaching her, the two-toned woman didn't look up, fixating on a certain spot of the parking lot and haunted by the memories it brought back to her.

'Kait? Is everything alright?' Dolph asked her, wishing to slap himself on the forehead once he had asked this ridiculous question. Of course she wasn't alright, Dolph, you idiot. She was this close to being fully dragged out of a shattered car window by her insane ex, nobody would be feeling alright after something like that had happened. But this didn't seem to be the reason for the saddened look on her face, though.

The two-toned woman let out a soft sigh, not once glancing to her lover.

'This is where it happened…' she said. 'Do you remember it too? I can still remember that night so well, as if it had happened only yesterday, and I don't think I will ever forget it. God, Dolph… that had to be the scariest night of my life. AJ… she was this close to being taken. I don't want to think of what that sick fuck would have done to her if we hadn't been there in time. Jesus Christ, I can still hear her screaming, she wouldn't stop screaming for a second. He had ruined her life, that fucking bastard…'

That's when the blonde bar owner began staring ahead of him as well while the haunting memory of that one summer night came creeping up from the back of his mind, refusing to be ignored any longer now that she was talking about it. His entire body slowly turned cold all over. He sure as hell still remembered this place. It was that one place in Hope's Creek he hated visiting, and yet he was still forced to go there at times, like when he had to buy food or another stash of alcoholic drinks to keep his business going. There wasn't one time where he didn't feel a heavy chill running up his spine whenever Dolph walked across this parking lot, he never got used to that feeling. All he could do was to walk as quickly to the supermarket as he could and back to his car whenever he was done shopping, just to get away from the awful piece of nostalgia that haunted this goddamn parking lot. Kaitlyn was so right; had they not been around at that moment to rescue AJ from that fucker, he surely would have driven away with her in the back of that van and she would probably be found dead, naked and viciously mutilated, just like all the unfortunate girls before her. The fact that they happened to be driving by the parking lot of horrors on that very night had been pure luck, now that he thought about it. The blonde bar owner remembered the fight that had gone on outside his father's bar, he had seen AJ running away in tears after she had harshly pushed her friend to the ground. From what he had heard her shouting at Kaitlyn, he understood that the not-so-well hidden feelings AJ had been harboring for him and the one-sided hug Kaitlyn had given him had been the main reasons for her to absolutely lose it. And while yes, while Dolph couldn't help but feel awful for the younger girl who was lying on the cold pavement, watching her hurt friend run off into the darkness and pleading for her to come back, he did feel this uneasy sense of awkwardness. He was put in the uncomfortable position of being the love interest of two girls who were way too young for his taste; he was the reason why their friendship fell into ruin. But he felt bad for Kaitlyn nonetheless, seeing her softly sob on the pavement as if her entire world had fallen apart. The blonde teen boy had helped her with her getting back up on her feet and had taken her back inside the bar, where he had given her a glass of water and a napkin to calm her down and wipe off her tears. She wouldn't stop sobbing, constantly apologizing to him for causing this awkwardness and voicing her concern about AJ being on her own while that sick bastard was still out there. He did share that same concern with her, because after all, he had always seen AJ like the little sister he never had. So after Kaitlyn had calmed down enough, which had taken a good ten minutes or so, they had hopped into his car and began searching for the petite girl, both of them hoping she would still be around somewhere.

And it was only when they drove past the supermarket's parking lot when they heard her bloodcurdling, heartbreaking scream; AJ's rescue had unfortunately come a few moments too late.

'The monster in the rabbit suit touched me… His name is Mr. Buns…' Those were the only words the wide-eyed, paled, trembling AJ Lee spoke to the police officer who was kind enough to drape a warm, beige blanket on her shoulders when the police finally arrived at the crime scene. Dolph could still remember the blue and red lights alternately coloring the pavement and street lights as the feverish call he had made earlier was more than enough for the dispatcher to send five police cars to the parking lot. It was only when they arrived that AJ stopped screaming and crying, either due to exhaustion, the trauma fully sinking in, or maybe both.

What followed next was the most mentally tiring night that Kaitlyn Bonin and Dolph Ziggler would ever experience in their lives. They were both taken to the local police station, where they were put in separate interrogation rooms to be bombarded with questions about what they had seen, ranging from the license plate of the vehicle AJ's attacker was driving (both teens truthfully claimed that these had been removed, causing one officer who had been questioning Dolph to mumble a barely audible four-letter word), what kind of van it had been, how they had found AJ Lee just in time before an even worse fate could befall on her to, of course, all the notable physical traits that sick bastard possessed to make finding and arresting him far easier. The rabbit suit was of course the first thing they mentioned. Dolph had no trouble with giving the exact details of that suit; brown plush, lilac waistcoat, big yellow-blue striped bow tie, and heavily reeking of dust. Though she had seen only very few of the rabbit suit's exact details due to her attention mostly being aimed at her hysterical friend at that moment, the only two details Kaitlyn could recall did match those Dolph had given during his own questioning. The young girl just had to ask that one important question that she wished to ask during this whole time; she wanted to know where her friend was, to which the police officer replied with a soothing tone in his voice to her that she was here as well. Kaitlyn also asked what was going to happen to her. AJ would have to go to a hospital to check if she had sustained any serious injuries from the attempted kidnapping, given that she had been walking with a bit of a limp when a colleague guided her to the back of the police car.

After what felt like an eternity of endless questions, Kaitlyn received a pat on her shoulder from the police officer, who informed her that her parents had arrived to pick her up.

The last glimpse she would ever have of AJ Lee for the following seventeen year was when their questioning was finally over and was heading with Dolph to the main entrance of the police station; she had silently passed her by with an officer walking right behind her like a personal bodyguard. Her pale cheeks were stained with dried tears, she stared down at the floor as she continued to walk, not acknowledging her friend for one moment, as if she was invisible to her, not even offering her a single glance. That lively, fearless, spunky girl Kaitlyn got to know during that summer was gone. Sure, she was physically still here, but something inside her had died; brutally killed on that parking lot and left unseen by others in an transparent pool of blood. She was nothing more but an empty shell of herself. All which remained of her from the inside was one vast, dark void. Empty. Dead. All because of that sick bastard in the rabbit suit. Kaitlyn and Dolph didn't get any chance to say something to her, sadly enough; AJ and the police officer had quickly passed them by before she could even react.

It had been one of the few times where Kaitlyn had been genuinely happy to see her parents, who standing near the main desk at the entrance of the building.

Whatever remained of Kaitlyn Bonin's ruined summer was spent between the walls of her home, unimaginably lonely and forced to listen to the constant bickering that went on between her parents, making it absolutely clear to her that having expressed her frustration on that night meant absolutely nothing to them. They forbade her of ever going outside unless one of them came along with her or attempting to contact Dolph or any hospital around the area, be it Bangor or even Portland, to ask if AJ was brought there the next day after the murder of her childhood. It had to be the loneliest, depressing summer she had ever gone through. Most of her days were spend inside her room, where she could hardly focus on the stories of her comic books, fought back the urge to wreck every single item she could get her hands on, pressed her hands against her ears to block out the venomous words her parents exchanged to one another while wishing to scream her lungs out in frustration and remorse and hoping she wouldn't have yet another nightmare that only consisted of AJ's screams and cries when she would eventually go to bed. It was torture for her. It was pure misery that felt like there was no end to it, even if the summer would come to an end. But if there was one thing her parents couldn't prevent her of doing so was to follow the news. And that was exactly what she did, each time she was given the chance. Whenever she spotted the latest newspaper lying on the dinner table, she immediately grabbed it and feverishly looked for any news about AJ or the monster that the media had dubbed 'The Hope's Creek Killer', on who an absolute manhunt had been unleashed on after the botched kidnapping. Kaitlyn came to know that even though police had swarmed the area that night in search of him, not one trace could have been found, as if he had been a ghost this entire time. No apprehensions were made, no arrests either, much to the frustration of the residents and police alike. As the following two days passed by, Kaitlyn, much to her increasing sadness, learned from the newspaper that AJ Lee, the girl who almost had turned into the Hope's Creek Killer's next victim, had been transferred to a mental institution that thankfully remained unnamed in the article; reporters would have flocked to that place like hungry wolves for sure if that hadn't happened. One thing the article did mention was that the young girl had gone completely mute while she was staying in the hospital and Kaitlyn could have easily guessed why. After all, they don't send you to a mental institution for no good reason… Tears had flown down the girl's cheek by the time she was done reading the news, tears that she was forced to quickly wipe away when she heard her mother coming back from buying groceries.

Something happened on the night of that second day, maybe even before that; something that shook Hope's Creek once again to its very core, giving it the answer to an eerie mystery.

Police had been called because of a burned down van that had been found by a passerby that was walking his dog at the pebble beach of a nearby lake that Kaitlyn had once visited… and it was what he saw upon closer, curious inspection that made him load his dog in the back of his car and drive home with screeching tires to make that phone call. This and the fact that a van had been mentioned during the questioning of two certain witnesses was more than reason enough for them to head towards the lake with a total of seven vehicles. The forensic team was greeted with a gruesome sight. Inside that van, that had been burned to the point where only a blackened, frail frame and the bottom remained, no documents, evidence or other traces of any kind could be salvaged and the tires had liquefied between the pebbles, lied the completely scorched body that was large enough to be of that of a child between the age of twelve and fifteen, curled up in a fetal position and its hands almost resembling bony claws. Its skin had turned into a sickening, reeking cocoon of black scabs. The facial features were barely there, you could hardly make up the clenched eyes and the nose. The large hole in its face had to be the mouth, with the tongue most likely burned away and only the teeth left intact, forever frozen in a silent scream of pain. The fingerprints were too horribly burned to be used for identification. Autopsy later on revealed that it was difficult to confirm whether the victim had been alive or dead before being set on fire along with the van, judging by the broken neck that had been discovered. The only way to make any identification possible was by tracking down the scorched body's dental records.

Horror struck Hope's Creek once more when it was revealed that the burned corpse belonged to none other than the girl who had gone missing more than a week ago.

Carmella Van Dale had met a death too gruesome for any sane human being to comprehend.

It was five days later, a full week after AJ's sexual assault, attempted kidnapping and destruction of the glorious childhood she still had ahead of her that neighbors of an old man known by those who lived in his neighborhood as a loner who hardly spoke to anyone began to complain of a strong, revolting odor that lingered around his house, possibly having escaped through an open window. When police finally arrived, the body of Alfred Peters was found dangling on a rope attached to a hook in the ceiling of his kitchen; the kicked over chair beneath him made it everything but rocket science to figure out that the old man had taken his old life for whatever reason, but when a filthy, horrifying secret he had been keeping in every room in the house had been discovered, the pity anyone who knew him felt towards him turned into shock, rage and disgust. The whole nation watched in collective repulsion and horror when they saw footage of police officers carrying boxes full of the kind of pornography that would make anyone sick to his stomach out of the house on the news, Kaitlyn being one of those watchers.

And it was with the death of Mr. Peters that the murders abruptly stopped, leading many, if not all residents of Hope's Creek, to believe that he had been the one who inflicted suffocating horror for a summer long on the once so peaceful town. The Hope's Creek Killer was dead, having taken the coward's way out. Even the police believed this and closed the case, leaving a foul taste in the mouths of anyone who had wished for this sick fucker to be caught alive and be thrown in prison to either rot in there for the rest of his life or be flung in the electric chair.

Beatrice Bonin, Kaitlyn's mother, finally realized that there was no longer any use in pretending like her family life was perfect, left her estranged husband, taking her daughter with her, who had no say whatsoever in the matter, as usual.

All that Kaitlyn had left behind in Hope's Creek on the day they moved to Greene City were the shards of the summer and the childhood she had there, her first love she wasn't allowed to speak to and a whole lot of tears.

'I wish I could have done more for her…' Kaitlyn, now a grown woman in 1997, spoke with her voice on the verge of trembling; she had to fight so hard to hold back her tears. 'If I could somehow… go back in time, back to that night and take her place… I would have done it.'

'Kait…' Dolph said, but she didn't give him much of a chance to let him speak.

'It should have been me in that van! She didn't deserve it!'

The blonde bar owner silently shook his head and gently put his hand on her shoulder, that one gesture that had always helped to calm her down.

The, brief hollow honk coming from a van that had stopped on the road, close to the the lovers, snapped them out of the shared, haunting memory, both looking over their shoulders.

Brian Kendrick used a handle to lower the driver's side window and stuck his head outside with a bit of a smug smile on his face.

'I already thought I saw you two from a little distance!' he said. 'And, did you get that fucker?'

'No, sorry…' Kaitlyn replied while shaking her head, instantly wiping that smile off Brian's face and making softly curse in frustration.

'Where were you?' Dolph asked. 'I just tried calling you earlier, you didn't pick up!'

'Oh… yeah, sorry about that.' the washed up rock star sheepishly chuckled. 'I uh, I had to fetch some more tape to seal off the window, that's all. I ran out of that stuff halfway, that's why I had to go out real quick. You two feel like having a quick cup of coffee? I know a good diner nearby, their coffee is the best damn coffee they have around this place. And I guess you still haven't had breakfast yet, have you, Dolph?'

Right on that moment, an unfitting but rather comically timed gurgle could be heard from the blonde bar owner's empty stomach.


	29. Unraveling Fabric

**Chapter 29**

 **Unraveling Fabric**

'What the fuck happened with that?' had been Brian's first reaction when he saw whatever remained of the window at the passenger's side as they had just parked their vehicles near the diner, which happened to be the same diner Dolph had his lunch at yesterday. Not much was left of the window at this point, only a few small, sharp shards of glass that were still attached to the frame; one glance at it could make one think of the mostly empty jaws of an old shark. Countless tiny pieces that almost resembled miniature diamonds glistening in the sunshine that finally peeked through the thick, light grey clouds in the sky could be spotted on the seat and the bottom, it would take forever to remove every single piece. Dolph could barely hold back a groan of irritation now that everything had calmed down and he could get a good look at it. Great, just fucking great, he could already hear his steadily decreasing bank account cry out in agony. But hell… he much rather had Bobby bashing in a part of his car than Kaitlyn's skull, that was for sure. Both he and the two-toned woman knew that Brian was going to be in for one hell of a story of which he may not like the ending of it, and that story should be saved for inside, told with a large mug of fresh, warm coffee (the best damn coffee around the area, mind you) and with whatever Dolph was going to order for brunch.

Kaitlyn softly chuckled, though it didn't sound too joyful.

'I'll tell you about that in a bit.' she replied.

From the first second they had set foot inside the diner, which had been dubbed with the warm name Sunshine Diner, they were welcomed with the smell of melting cheese, mixed with a hint of one lonely cooked hamburger and with that of a batch of fries soaking in the bubbling hot oil they were dipped in. Kaitlyn had expected a place with such inviting interior and a name that was everything but too cheesy to have a handful of customers around the afternoon, but she was proven wrong when she took a little moment to look around her. Aside from a tall, unshaved trucker in his mid-forties who obviously stopped for a quick but delicious bite before hitting the road again, there were no other customers in the diner at this time of the day. Well yeah, it wasn't like the two-toned woman expected the whole place to be completely packed, but she had thought it would still be pretty busy nonetheless. And thus there were no people to softly gasp in surprise, get up from their seats and try not to look too overly excited while walking towards none other than the local legend himself The Brian Kendrick to ask him to sign their spare, unused napkin. Clearly the truck driver had no idea a celebrity had entered the small but cozy-looking diner, judging by the fact that he only looked up from the newspaper he was reading when the pretty, redheaded waitress approached him with his tasty-looking lunch, which were a cheeseburger with a small portion of fries. Well, maybe that waitress could still ask him for an autograph, then.

The small group chose a table near the large front window and given that there were no other customers to deliver food to left, their orders were brought to their table in five minutes; two big cups of coffee for Kaitlyn and Brian (the latter added two sugar cubes to his drink) and a cheese omelet with tomato soup and plain water for Dolph. And Kaitlyn had to admit; Brian was absolutely right about the coffee.

'So what happened out there?' the washed up rock star asked after he took the first sip of his coffee. 'Did you at least a glance of that guy?'

Well yeah, it had been more than just a glance, unfortunately.

'We uh… we didn't find him.' Kaitlyn said. 'He found us, you know what I mean?'

'Like what, did he follow you or something?'

The two-toned woman gave him a brief nod. 'I guess so, because at some point, he… he just showed up behind us. It happened outside Hope's Creek, just down the road.' While that was completely true, she didn't really feel like telling Brian that she and Dolph had been making some sweet love in that car like two horny teenagers on the moment Bobby had found them, because let's be honest here… sometimes, some details are better left unsaid. Hell, just thinking about those few minutes that felt like absolute heaven was all it took to make Kaitlyn's cheeks color in a soft shade of red, but thankfully Brian didn't seem to notice it. From the corner of her eye she noticed that Dolph's cheeks had been slightly reddened as well, but he managed to play it cool by taking another mouthful of fresh tomato soup. Suppressing the urge to chuckle in awkwardness, Kaitlyn managed to continue with the story.

'He appeared the fuck out of nowhere. And I still find it kind of hard to believe it, but… I knew him. That guy was my ex-boyfriend!'

The rock star arched his eyebrows in surprise. 'Are you serious now?'

Kaitlyn nodded again. 'Yeah, dead serious, I'm afraid. It turned out that he came all the way from Greene City to see me. Before I came here, I had broken up with him and obviously he wasn't planning on letting me go just yet. He actually thought I left him for some other guy, that's why he came here, that jealous prick. Remember when I told you about the creep who broke into my motel room while I was sleeping? That same creep who tried to run me over when he escaped? It was him, Brian. He was also the one who smashed in your window. He had been stalking me this entire time, he knew that I was sleeping at your place that night. That's why he threw that brick… that threat was meant for me. We did try to get away from him when he found us. That's when he smashed Dolph's car. I think he would have dragged me into his car and driven off if Dolph hadn't been with me. Dolph beat the absolute hell out of him…'

'And I would do it again if I had to.' the blonde bar owner said. It was at that moment where both Kaitlyn and Brian noticed how painful his bruised knuckles looked.

'I told him to go back to Greene City and leave us alone.' Kaitlyn said. 'And that's what he did. At least, that's what I assume, because he didn't follow us anymore after that. I think that in some weird way he also wanted me back… like hell that will happen.'

That was all there was to tell. The two-toned woman fell silent and stared down at her coffee cup, of which she had only taken one sip from before she told about the horrors that had transpired earlier. It was quiet between the three for a few seconds.

That's when Brian audibly breathed out through his nose in light irritation. 'I would have preferred more if you guys actually shoved that shithead in the trunk or something after Dolph was done with beating him up and brought him to me, because I would gladly punch his lights out too before tossing him at the entrance of the police station… but I hope for you that he will back off now, Kait. I really do. I would have hated to think what he would have done to you.'

The corners of Kaitlyn's mouth curled into a small smile. 'Don't worry about it, Brian. You should have seen the look on his face… I'm absolutely sure he will stay away.'

'Oh, he'd better. If he lays one finger on you, he's mine.'

It wasn't like the two-toned woman was scared to death of running into Bobby again or anything, but knowing that she did not only have Dolph who was willing to defend her if needed, but also Brian; he had only known her for such a short amount of time and yet he would be ready to beat the living hell out of her ex for her, as if she was his closest friend. This felt strangely flattering, if Kaitlyn had to be honest.

None of them said a word for a few seconds, but it wasn't an awkward kind of silence at all. Kaitlyn and Brian silently enjoyed their coffee and Dolph had just finished his tomato soup and had fixated his attention to an article in a newspaper that had been left on the table by presumably the staff for their customers to read. The silence was briefly interrupted by Brian politely declining a refill of his coffee when the red-haired, pretty-looking waitress whose name apparently was Amanda (one single loose strand of red hair wasn't enough to fully obscure her name tag) offered this to him when she stood near their table. Even though she did clearly recognize him, judging by the fact that she addressed him as Mr. Kendrick, she didn't bother to ask him for an autograph or anything, heading towards the kitchen right after she had told him to just say so if he changed his mind about a refill later.

It was right after that little moment where Dolph's eyebrows slightly arched as his eyes went over each word of the article.

'Hey, Brian…' he said. 'Have you already heard about this?' He looked up and pointed to the article that had clearly caught his attention. 'They're planning on tearing down a part of the old neighborhood in Elm Town for new houses. Didn't you use to live in that part of town when you were a kid?'

'Wait, are you serious?' Now it was Brian who was arching his eyebrows in surprise. He glanced down to his half-empty coffee cup, not saying a single word, as if he was lost within his thoughts, perhaps even recalling some of the memories he had of that town during the time he was that shy, unhappy boy. He slowly nodded. 'Yeah, I used… I mean, we used to live there, way back then. I wonder why they only now decided to tear them down. It's about damn time, those houses were already in pretty bad shape back then. And let's just say that that neighborhood wasn't exactly that pleasant to live in, but I guess any town has that kind of neighborhood.'

'So maybe it will get better if they will rebuild those houses.' Kaitlyn said, taking a sip of her lukewarm coffee after saying this. 'At least, that's why I assume. They usually rebuild a neighborhood if they want to make it a better place for people to live in, right? So at least that's good!'

'Yeah, that's true…' Even though Brian seemed to fully agree with her, she could still see a hint of worry lingering on his face. She knew that there were probably not a whole lot of happy memories tied to that place thanks to his troubled childhood in Elm Town, but still, it was where he grew up when he was younger. It still held an important piece of nostalgia. It was in that neighborhood where the young, beautiful, innocent Melissa Kendrick, dressed in one of her favorite, puffy-sleeved, pastel-colored summer dresses and kind enough to put anyone else's happiness in front of hers, and her twin brother played together to distract themselves from the words their father emotionally scarred them with and Brian's harsh school life, succeeding most of the time at this.

After less than five minutes, their coffee cups were empty.

'Shit, I think I have left my wallet in the car…' Brian mumbled when it turned out that he was the only one who had brought his wallet after leaving his residence, touching the empty pockets of his jeans.

'I can get it for you if you want!' Kaitlyn said. 'It's no problem!'

'Uh, sure… it's in the glove box, I think.'

The two-toned woman immediately got up from her seat after her friend handed over his car keys to her and went outside. She soon found out that she hadn't plucked out all tiny pieces of glass from her hair after all, feeling something sharp pricking the tip of her index finger when she ran her fingers through a strand of her hair; thankfully it hadn't pricked her deep enough to draw blood. Brian's van had been parked just a few meters away from the diner. As she walked towards the vehicle, she briefly wondered what they were going to do if the wallet wasn't in the glove box, or anywhere in the van, for that matter. A blush of shame would surely appear on her cheeks if she had to inform Brian about this. Were they going to pull off a classic, immoral case of dine and dash? Goodness, hopefully it didn't have to come to that, Kaitlyn thought with a small chuckle.

She opened the passenger's side with the key and opened the glove box. That leopard-printed wallet inside there had to be Brian's, without a doubt. But just as she was about to close the van's door after retrieving it, something on the bottom sparked her curiosity.

It might have not been something that seemed unusual to most people, but to Kaitlyn, it was. She opened the plastic bag with the logo and name of a fabric store that definitely wasn't located in Hope's Creek to get a better look. Bundles of sky blue and mint green fabric had been neatly folded and stuffed inside, large enough to make an entire outfit. The two-toned woman slightly frowned. Those colors… they didn't look like they came close to Brian's taste in the slightest. Why would he bother to spend money on something like this? This fabric looked like they were bought to make kid's clothing or something… girl's clothing, to be more specific. This was only backed up by the fact that when Kaitlyn carefully moved aside a bundle of mint-green fabric, she saw that the plastic bag also contained certainly two meters worth of white, frilly lace.

Yes, this was all strange, pretty damn strange, but Kaitlyn wouldn't have paid that much mind to it afterwards if she hadn't spotted something else on the bottom of the van, just barely peeking out from underneath the passenger's seat, egging her on to increase her curiosity.

What she found next made her heart sink to the pits of her body in the blink of an eye.


	30. Blurry Confrontation

**Chapter 30**

 **Blurry Confrontation**

It turned out that Brian Kendrick had an important favor to ask from his friends when Kaitlyn had gone back inside the Sunshine Diner with the washed-up rock star's wallet in her hand which luckily contained enough cash to pay for the brunch and coffee; boarding up the broken front window of his house had already been one bitch of a chore to do on his own, so before Kaitlyn and Dolph would continue with their search of where AJ Lee could possibly be, he made the request of them helping him with finishing the chore. It wouldn't take long, he promised that. Dolph's empty plate and the coffee mugs had already been picked up by the pretty waitress (thanks Amanda, hopefully Brian can still give you a generous tip that you so deserve when we leave).

Dolph was the one who told this to Kaitlyn and she barely managed to pay any attention to what he was saying, as she was trying hard to control the absolute horror that went on through her head, screaming, distraught and mercilessly shoving the truth right into her face. The two-toned woman knew damn well she would be immediately caught if she showed any sign of what was truly going on inside her mind at this moment, it took her so much effort to keep up a calm appearance, it was almost mentally exhausting. This was not the right moment, the right place to reveal the reason behind her horror. While she was standing here psychically, it felt like her mind was entirely somewhere else; during the time Dolph had been talking to her, it seemed like she was mentally still standing near Brian's van, holding that thing she found hidden underneath the passenger's seat in her trembling hands, eyes widened with pure horror, suppressing the urge to whimper and to run back inside the diner to scream at Dolph about what she had found. Someway, somehow, she had managed to pull herself together enough to feign an attitude of calmness, as if everything she thought she knew never had fallen apart outside near Brian's van; an indirect result of the local celebrity's brief forgetfulness.

Despite the heart beat inside her head, fast-paced, low-pitched and almost loud enough to block out all sounds around her, Kaitlyn was somehow able to hear and understand every word Dolph said to her, all while keeping up her false calmness.

Fine. They would help him.

But the right moment would be there, it would take place inside that damn house, for sure. In fact, it was the perfect location for it to happen.

As soon as she gave him his wallet, Brian paid the brunch and as expected from any decent human being visiting a diner, gave the waitress a fairly acceptable tip; it may have not been a whole lot, but you could see that she was happy with it nonetheless, smiling broadly as she tucked the five dollars in the pocket of her dark blue apron.

Even when she and Dolph went back inside the blonde bar owner's car (thankfully there were no tiny shards of glass on the passenger's seat to prick through her skin), Kaitlyn somehow managed to keep up the fake calmness. Dolph hadn't noticed it, but she had been resting her hand on a bulge in the right pocket of her shorts; it was in there where she had hidden that one thing she had found in the van, often softly squeezing it as if she wanted to be sure it was still in her pocket. They kept following Brian, who was driving in front of them. It was everything but a long ride, it was about three minutes long, but during that time Dolph had already come up with a new idea that could help them in their search for AJ Lee. He had thought about it while consuming his meal. They could go visit the abandoned house that once belonged to the supposed Hope's Creek Killer, Alfred Peters, to see if there were possibly any traces AJ could have left that could lead them to her, because after, it was one of the locations she had visited before her disappearance. And while yes, Kaitlyn would have agreed to that plan (while dearly hoping not to be forced to lay eyes upon any references to the old man's hidden, sickening sexual preference at the same time), that is, if she had never offered to go retrieve Brian's wallet. A stomach-churning visit to the Peters residence wasn't going to be needed. All she did was give her lover a brief nod and a soft-spoken 'Yeah… we could do that, for sure.' before fixating her sight back to the van in front of them, not saying another word after this and not looking away for a second. Those two remaining minutes of the ride back to Brian's place felt like an eternity to her.

When they pulled up near the front door of the house of the local celebrity, they both saw that Brian clearly had been busy boarding up the shattered front window while they had been gone. The bottom half of the empty frame had been filled up with cardboard which were (most likely spare) moving boxes taken apart and taped together; it must have been when the lower half was boarded up that Brian ran out of duct tape. The sun in the sky was shining with so much warmth that everything that had been washed by the rain dried up in a matter of minutes, you'd almost forget that it had been raining earlier today. Even that typical, delightful smell of the rain was about as good as gone when Kaitlyn, Dolph and Brian exited their vehicles.

'Okay, so I have been thinking…' Brian said once the three of them were standing in the living room. Though most of the glass shards had been removed with the help of the vacuum cleaner that was leaning against the sofa, Kaitlyn could still spot some smalls pieces of glass glistening in the fluffy fabric of the carpet, making her wisely decide not to take off her shoes for the time she would be here. The washed-up rock star rubbed his hands together while he continued to speak. 'If I take the boxes apart and hand them over to Dolph, maybe he can hold the cardboard in place while Kait puts the tape on the edges. Do you think you can do that?'

'No problem.' Dolph replied. 'I don't think it will be that much work. Let's do this.'

And so they began working together to get the job done as quickly as possible. Only one four-letter word was hissed by Brian when he accidently cut his index finger while taking apart one of the moving boxes; Dolph had offered to grab him a band-aid, but he had politely declined this with a mumbled 'nah' and shake from his head and proceeded to suck two drops of bleed from the four-millimeter long cut. As he had planned to do, he handed over the boxes to Dolph, who lined them up to the pieces that had already been taped in place below, making sure no gaps could be seen between them. By this time, the light of the sun was fully shining upon them, causing the temperature in the living room to rise to a kind of warmth that you'd expect from a summer day. Kaitlyn could already see the first beads of sweat emerging from Dolph's forehead and she wasn't too far behind, because it didn't take long for her to feel sweat trickling down her temples. But not once did she complain about the heat; because honestly, that was the least of her problems. The two-toned woman put the tape on the edges of the pieces, blocking out the little amount of sunshine that was peeking through the barely visible gaps before cutting it with a pair of scissors that Brian had given her. As more cardboard filled up the upper half of the large, emptied frame, the temperature in the living room slowly lowered and dimmed the light inside, masking the remaining tiny pieces of glass that were left stuck in the fabric of the carpet. By the time they were almost finished, the living room had grown so dim that Brian had to get up and flick the light switch.

The job was done in almost fifteen minutes; Kaitlyn had miraculously managed to keep up the appearance of the helpful friend, while during this whole time, couldn't wait to expose the horrifying truth. Perhaps the sudden request of helping with blocking up the empty window frame turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

That right moment to bring the whole damn house of cards down with one flick of a finger was getting close, she could feel it.

Apparently Brian had witnessed the sheens of sweat coating Dolph's and Kaitlyn's forehead during the chore, because as soon as the two-toned woman lined up the tape against the edges of the last piece of cardboard, he had gotten up from the couch, headed towards the kitchen and returned a minute later back to the living room with two large glasses of clear, delightfully cold water. Each glass contained two ice cubes, floating on the water's surface like miniature icebergs, making drinking that water even more tempting.

'I couldn't thank you two enough for that. That might have taken me a damn half hour or something if you hadn't been around!' the rock star said with a friendly grin as he approached his two friends; as he walked, the ice cubes clicked against each other and the glass. 'I don't have that much cash on me at the moment but I hope some water will suffice.'

'Oh yeah, definitely.' Dolph replied. Kaitlyn saw the tip of his tongue slightly darting out and quickly sliding between his lips when he laid eyes upon the drinks, making her realize how thirsty she actually had become during the chore as well. The blonde bar owner didn't think twice about taking one of the glasses from his friend. 'Thanks, Brian.'

'I figured you could use a little drink after standing in the sun for so long. Here Kait, have one too.'

The glass felt so deliciously cold in her warm hand when she accepted the offer, but unlike her lover, who had immediately taken a large sip once he had taken the glass, the two-toned woman stared at the water for three discrete moments. This was it, she knew. As soon as this glass would be empty, there was no way in hell she was going to back out on revealing what she had found in that damn van. Dolph had the right to know the truth, he deserved it. What she had hidden in the pocket of her shorts, that one item that had thankfully remained successfully hidden this entire time while they had helped Brian out, had broken down everything she thought she had known and there was absolutely no way that any lies could be used to dismiss this item's importance, because she had seen this so many times before, clearly remembering how it looked like even after all the years that had passed. Yes, there was some nervousness pooling in the pits of her stomach, Kaitlyn admitted it. But that nervousness could easily be overpowered by the anger that was lurking inside there as well. The only reason why she had not shown any of this was due to the sheer determination she had to keep up the fake calmness, acting like she was still oblivious to the truth that had been so cunningly kept away from them. Well, that was all going to come to an end.

This sick little game would all be over soon.

The dry desert that was the inside of her mouth was no more once she took a sip of her drink and there was no way in denying that it was so deliciously cold and refreshing. But when the glass was halfway there of being fully emptied, it seemed that one detail the image she had of the revelation was going to be changed.

'Right, I'll go to the toilet really quick and then we will head to the Peters residence.' Dolph said while putting his glass on the coffee table. 'It won't take too long!' There was no chance for Kaitlyn to tell him to wait, because her mouth was full of water at that very unfortunate moment; before she could swallow, her lover had already left the living room and started to head upstairs, oh no, oh damn it…

It was just her and Brian now.

'How are you holding up, Kait?' Brian suddenly asked after two seconds of silence; his voice had softened with concern, but it was still enough to make Kaitlyn's eyes immediately dart in his direction in surprise. By now the ice cubes that were still left floating in her drink had shrunken in size, looking more like large pebbles rather than cubes. Her mouth instantly felt dry again, but she didn't feel the urge to feel another sip, not yet.

'What?' she asked.

'I uh… I asked you how you were doing.' Brian replied. 'You have been through so much shit today, yesterday as well. I mean, you found out your ex had been stalking you all along, you almost died in the woods, your friend is still missing… honestly, I would completely lost my shit by now if that were to happen to me.'

The two-toned woman let out a little sigh. 'I sure as hell can believe that. I feel exhausted, but I'm fine. I'm still standing. And as long as I still stand, I want to keep looking for AJ. She's my friend, Brian. I can't fall apart, not now, not later. It's not going to help either her or me if I do that, you know what I mean? I can't afford to let all what has happened get to me.'

Brian nodded in understanding. 'Spoken like a true friend.' he said. 'I gotta say… I respect you for that. For being so persistent, that is. Any other person would have lost their damn mind by now if they went through the same things as you did. AJ must mean a lot to you.'

'She does, yeah.'

'But really, it's no shame if you need to shed a tear or two. That's perfectly fine, it doesn't mean you will fall apart if you do so. You don't have to be ashamed of it or anything, just to let you know.'

'I told you already, Brian, I'm fine. Really, it's okay. But thanks, though.'

Now that AJ Lee had been included in this conversation, she saw the perfect opportunity to reel him in. Careful now, Kait, she thought to herself. Don't pull it out of your pocket and hold it in front of in face, no matter how badly you want to do it. Hear what he will say. Pull those words out of his mouth. Then do it. And bring the whole damn thing down, girl. Kaitlyn took another sip of her water; the icy pebbles that were the ice cubes had shrunken even more.

This question she was planning on asking him now would provide him with one final chance to come clean.

'Are you really sure you haven't seen her?' the two-toned woman asked with a bit of a sad tone in her voice, glancing down at her glass. 'Please, Brian, I ask of you, as your friend… try to remember as hard as you can. Even if it was just a little glimpse, no matter where you saw her at the moment, it would really help.'

Then it happened, just as she had expected. She clearly saw it, confirming everything that had been storming around in her head for what seemed like an eternity. After a few seconds of silence in which he appeared to dig through the memories of the past few days, Brian eventually shook his head, looking almost just as saddened as she was. 'I really wish I had, Kait.' he replied. 'But no. I'm sorry. I had no idea she had been in Hope's Creek in the first place. I would have said so immediately when Dolph said she had been here. I want to help finding her just as much as he does.'

'I know that. I believe you, Brian. It already means a lot to me that you want to help.'

That right there had to be the biggest fucking lie she had ever squeezed out of her throat. The anger that had overlapped whatever nervousness had been hidden in her stomach began to burn so intensely that it almost revealed her sad mood as nothing more but an act to lure him in, but despite this, she maintained her almost unnatural calmness. What Brian had said to her was all she needed to hear from him. He had no idea, but he had fucked up. The truth that he had created had shattered into pieces by his own doing and he didn't even have a fucking clue. Honestly, it nearly made Kaitlyn want to smirk in victory. She didn't say anything and decided to take yet another sip of her drink, in which the ice cubes were coming this close to being fully melting away.

Right on that very moment, they both heard a waterfall crashing down somewhere between the walls upstairs, followed by some low rumbling coming from that same direction. It looked like Dolph's visit to the bathroom was over. Good; he was more than welcome to witness Brian's true face once he would come downstairs.

Just a little bit longer… just so she could give him the unexpected blow that would strike everything down.

Kaitlyn slowly breathed out through her nose, trying her best to hide the trembling that could have definitely been heard if she didn't keep up her cool at that moment. 'God, Brian, I just want her to be okay. I know… no, I can feel that she's still alive. She's out there somewhere and she needs help. I wasn't able to help her on the night that sick bastard tried to kidnap her, but this time, I can. And I will.'

'No girl deserves to experience something as horrible as that…' the local celebrity spoke with a softened voice. 'I read what he had done to her. That fucker had ruined her life.'

'Yes. AJ deserved so much better. Everyone in this town treated her like absolute shit, just because she was Roberta Lee's daughter, it was so unfair. I was the only friend she had… at school, that is. It was only with me that she felt comfortable enough to share everything with. Her secrets… Her feelings… Her possessions, too.'

Now.

Her hand dove inside the pocket of her shorts, her fingers immediately touching the thick plastic that even though had obtained a few scratches here and there during the seventeen years that had passed by was still in good condition and a part of the wire attached to the device. If she had clenched her fingers around it any harder, she might have unintentionally cracked it. The façade was finally allowed to be dropped; the sadness on her face was instantly replaced with nothing but pure anger as Kaitlyn stared right into Brian's eyes. The game was over; time to pierce through this one big goddamn lie. As if a wasp had crawled inside her pocket and stung her hand, Kaitlyn quickly pulled it out, the device held tightly in her fist. Brian's eyes had expressed genuine empathy a few seconds ago, but as soon as he saw what had been hidden in her pocket all this time, the new look in his eyes could only be described as this: as if his entire world had been blown to pieces. His mouth turned into a flat, emotionless, frozen line. Seeing this expression on a person's face after being confronted by nothing but the absolute truth would tempt one to grin in victory, but this was the last thing that Kaitlyn had on her mind.

The headphones were dangling above the carpet by even less than a meter. The ink of the permanent marker AJ Lee had written her name with was, though slightly faded thanks to years of the walkman being used, was still visible and her name still readable. Kaitlyn held the device that she had recognized so easily despite the fact that it had almost been two decades ago since the last time she had shared it with her friend close to the face of the liar that was Brian Kendrick. Both of them didn't speak a single word during the following five seconds, their faces doing all the talking. By now, the two-toned woman's face was almost on the verge of trembling, she was this enraged; Brian on the other hand, looked at the walkman like it was a severed human head.

It was at this moment this strange, nauseous feeling began to develop within Kaitlyn's head, but she didn't pay any attention to it right now.

'This is AJ's.' Kaitlyn said, the tone in her voice flattened with anger. 'She got this walkman when was thirteen, when we met. I found it in your van when I got your wallet, Brian. I found it under the passenger's seat.'

She saw the rock star's lips parting to say something, but unable to find any words to use to lie his way out of this, he instead inaudibly sucked in some air before closing his mouth. It was at this point where Brian must have realized that it was because of his own doing, his own forgetfulness, that he was now exposed. Yes, that walkman had been pushed away far enough underneath the passenger's seat to be spotted at some point. Had he hit the brakes too deep one or two many times in order for it to slip forward? Probably so, it had to be.  
Forgetting his wallet on that very moment had turned to be his worst mistake.

'You know where she is!' Kaitlyn said, her voice increasing with anger. 'You knew it all along! How else could this walkman have ended up in your van?! You have been around her, Brian! You have seen her! You lying piece of shit, this all ends now! You have been caught! Don't even dare trying to deny anything! Now tell me where she is! What have you done to her?! Tell me, now!'

And that's when the strange feeling inside the two-toned woman's head that had started out as this ignorable heaviness inside her head suddenly fully kicked in, striking her like a fist to her face. The coffee table, the couch, the vase filled with bamboo, the carpet, the framed poster of his band, the photo of his beloved dead twin sister and Brian himself all slowly began to grow blurry; no matter how many times Kaitlyn blinked, nothing regained one clear feature. Her head felt heavy, so unbelievably heavy, as if concrete had been somehow stuffed inside there. And at the same time, the dizziness began to sneak its way in. The two-toned woman was forced to look down and let out a trembling groan. One by one, weakness settled in every limb; it cost her great effort her to not drop the glass and AJ's walkman. But the dizziness combined with that heavy feeling began to grow so strong that she was convinced she would drop straight to the floor if she didn't press her hands on her temples, and despite using most of whatever energy was still left inside her body that was increasingly growing weaker by the second, she unwillingly dropped AJ's walkman, which landed on the carpet with a muffled thud. The glass of water followed immediately afterwards, missing the carpet by a centimeter and shattering into pieces on the floor, sending water and shards of glass flying across the wooden floorboard.

Just then, Kaitlyn could hear Brian softly chuckling, but at this point her vision had grown so blurry that she couldn't tell whether he was grinning or not.

'What timing…' he said. 'I was already starting to wonder when that drug would kick in.'

Drug…? When did he drug her…? How…?

That's when the two-toned woman's sight shifted to the shattered glass on the floor. Realization struck her with full force. Her eyes widened in shock as she whimpered in horror. Of course... it made sense now, it all made sense. It was in the water, oh goddamn it, that's why he gave it to her, on that very moment where she had let her guard down, Jesus fucking Christ, goddamn it Kait, no…!

Right on that moment, a loud, barely muffled thump could be heard from upstairs, coming from the corridor. Knowing what could have caused a sound like this made her whimper once more. Oh no… Dolph…!

Her legs, now feeling they were made entirely from jelly, then gave up on her, causing her to collapse to the floor, the impact making the blurry world around her shake. A sharp pain traveled through her arm as a shard of glass pierced her arm, deep enough to make blood trickle out of the wound and mix with the water, creating gory swirls. Kaitlyn wanted to scream, both in pain and fear, but her throat felt stuffed, blocking out any chance to scream for help or make any other noises for that matter. Right then, a foul, bitter taste filled up her entire mouth and something foamy spilled out immediately afterwards; there was so much froth forming inside her that she had to cough it out in order to breathe, spilling onto the floor. If her dull, rapid heartbeat that could be heard all the way up inside her head had been any louder, it would have been impossible for the two-toned woman to hear another sinister chuckle coming from Brian, who was looking down on her like she was some helpless animal at his mercy.

She had to get away from him… she had to get away from him now, goddamn it!

Kaitlyn mustered up whatever strength she still had inside her, that same strength she was now desperately clinging onto, and rolled on her stomach, now lying flat on the floor. It was nearly impossible for her at this point, but she managed to slowly crawl away from Brian, dragging her weakening body across the water and glass, forcing herself to ignore the pain the latter caused and keep crawling. There was no way she could make it to the front door in order to go outside, scream at the top of her lungs and pray to God that someone outside would hear her, she knew she didn't have any strength for that, but maybe she could still make it to the kitchen, where she sure as hell could find something to defend herself with, like a butcher knife, scissors, a cleaver, anything sharp enough to be used as a weapon would do, as long as she wouldn't lose her consciousness…

Unfortunately for Kaitlyn Bonin, she was only able to drag herself away from Brian for a almost one meter, feeling the last bit of energy burning up when she was near the door that lead to the hallway. The heaviness overlapped the dizziness, swallowing her up like a hungry monster. Her head fell on the floorboard as she was forced to give in, unable to move any longer. As the last bit of froth left the corner of her mouth, Kaitlyn saw a blurry pair of leather shoes enter her sight; Brian had taken his sweet time catching up with her.

He had been onto her from the very beginning… and only now did he strike.

One second after Kaitlyn realized this, the world around her went dark.


	31. Mr Buns' True Face

**Chapter 31**

 **Mr. Buns' True Face**

She was lying on cold, hard, mildly rumbling metal; it was that sensation that managed to slowly pull her out of that mind-numbing, paralyzing darkness that was the unconsciousness. By this time, the left side of her face had grown colder and sore, due to lying on that hard, uncomfortable surface for God knows how long, depending on how long she had been out. At first that rumbling sensation hadn't been strong enough to regain any bit of consciousness, being so light that her eyelids didn't even tremble, entirely blocked out by her own unresponsive mind, she was so deep in it. But it had been the painfully uncomfortable metal the side of her face was resting against that in some way, somehow, managed to navigate its way through that darkness that kept her in her unwilling, forced slumber. The pain and cold were effective enough to pull out a soft groan from her mouth, in which a foul taste had developed, as if she had been gone for hours… which might have very well been the case. It was almost mud-like, mixed with an unpleasant tinge of bitterness, which helped her pull herself out of that darkness a little further. Something that must have had a foamy texture before had dried up on her chin, having turned into a somewhat sticky, odorless stain.

It was on that moment when the rumbling found its way inside her mind where the effect of the drug still heavily lingered like a thick mist on a bitterly cold winter night, amplifying the pain that had been hiding in there and went unnoticed for the entire time she had been knocked out; it was now so sharp that it could make any person fear their head splitting apart like a sliced apple if they dared to even lift it for an inch. The hard metal pressing against the side of her head became too much to bare and despite the feeling that nails had been somehow pushed inside every spot inside her sore head, Kaitlyn Bonin was able to slightly move it, its back now touching the rumbling metal.

She tried her best to open her eyes, she really did. But as soon as she parted her eyelids for two millimeters, the pain suddenly crackled, raw, red and ugly; the only reason why she couldn't groan in pain was because the two-toned woman simply didn't have enough strength to do so. That's when a sickening feeling slowly began to develop in the pits of her stomach, intensifying by every second. Somewhere in that dark mist inside her head that kept her so unbelievably weak, Kaitlyn knew what would happen if she would give into that sickness. There was no way she could tell that she'd be able to roll onto her side once vomit would fill up her mouth and eventually her throat, the words 'choke' and 'die' floating around in that mist thankfully being enough to keep that nauseous feeling down for just a bit. The two-toned woman barely audibly breathed in through her mouth as she tried to push the urge to vomit back while at the same time trying to break through the weakness, despite the rumbling that was now feeling like it went through her entire body. She tried to open her eyes once again, this time succeeding in opening them far enough to get a look at her surroundings.

All that she could see was one big, metallic, darkened blur. A roof… Was it the roof of a… van?

Just then, Kaitlyn felt that something sticky, tight and broad had bound her wrists together; the same went for her ankles. These sensations helped clearing some of the dark mist, but it still wasn't enough to make her fully regain her strength, nor her consciousness. It hadn't been dark enough to see only pitch black, so there must be something around here that let in some light, like… a window… that had to be it. If there was a window, then she could see where the hell she was; the two-toned woman was barely able to stitch this realization together. The thought of closing her eyes while taking a deep breath brought the dread of falling back into that dark mist again, so she tried her best to keep them open, only daring to blink, but even doing that scared her. It didn't matter how many times she blinked, her surroundings remained one big, hardly comprehensible blur. God, her head was going to split if she'd try to sit up, but she had to know where she was, there was no other choice… Those few seconds she needed to accumulate enough energy to sit up, even if it would be for a few seconds (seconds that were important, so damn important), as long as she could see where she was.

Kaitlyn held her breath as she struggled to sit straight up; if she did have more energy at that moment, she surely would have groaned in pain. There was indeed a window; she had been lying close to a wall during the entire time she had been knocked out cold. The two-toned woman turned her head and at that moment she had to fight with all her might to stay awake long enough to figure out where she was, because long, gnarly, shadowy, clawed hands emerged from that mist to pull her back inside that darkness.

The sky outside had already started to dim. A flurry of green mixed with brown which were the trees next to the road flew her by for one second before the landscape was replaced with small, blurry hills. And it was just before she was on the verge of lying back down when a large sign passed her by of which the lettering was large enough for the two-toned woman to read and comprehend what it said, despite the blurriness.

'Welcome to Elm Town!' was the friendly message that locals and visitors were greeted with each time they passed that sign.

Elm Town… Elm Town… Elm… El… Hell… Welcome to Hell…

The hands had successfully grabbed Kaitlyn and mercilessly dragged her back into the dark mist; she was already unconsciousness before the back of her head hit the bottom.

* * *

'No! Get the fuck away from her! Don't you fucking dare!'

These loud, furious words spoken with a voice that she recognized so well, though muffled, were shouted loud enough to make Kaitlyn slowly regain consciousness for a second time. Dolph… Dolph…! That name floated around aimlessly in that dark mist, lonely and vague, but it was this reorganization that made it slightly easier for her to try waking up once more. An unbelievably thick, musty odor that could only be smelled upon entering an abandoned cellar or basement that hadn't been entered for years found its way into her nose; there was no way she could still be inside that van. The surface she had been laid on earlier on had been cold and hard, but it was clean nonetheless; wherever she was now, the floor must be so filthy and old that she breathing in pieces of dust through her nose.

Just before she was able to attempt to open her eyes, something soft touched her hair, soft enough to barely increase the pain from earlier that was still lingering inside her head. This only lasted for a second, though, as hard, cruel fingers hidden underneath that softness were clenched together and grabbed a fistful of hair, proceeding to immediately pull them as hard and viciously as they could, violently shaking her head in the meanwhile as she was lifted up, as if the owner of those fingers wished to dislocate her neck.

Kaitlyn Bonin wasn't simply pulled out of her unconsciousness; no, she was ripped out of it.

Her eyes flew open as unbearable pain forced her to do this, so sudden and intense that it almost made that nauseous feeling she had back inside that van spill out through her mouth, but she was somehow able to hold it back with a loud, pained groan. Perhaps it was because of this pain that the two-toned woman's vision was instantly cleared since the blurriness was only there for one second after she had snapped awake and it was only now that she could get a good look at what was around her… it confirmed the comprehension her mind had stitched together in that black mist thanks to the smell that had lingered all around her. The only source of light came from the opened door on top of the flight of stairs, and though it was dim, it was bright enough to shine a proper light upon her surroundings, which was just as she had thought; she and Dolph had been lying in an empty, old, dusty, cold basement for God knows how long, perhaps long enough for someone to grow so impatient that he decided to wake her up with a cruel pull on her hair. Various sizes of strings of dust clumped together were strewn all over the floor. Only one lonely, long plank could be spotted lying amidst the dust. Lying just less than a meter away from her was Dolph, who had woken up earlier than her, his ankles and wrists bound by tape and looking absolutely furious, glaring at the person who was still holding the two-toned woman's head up by the chunk of hair.

'About time you woke up, Kait.' a demonic voice, clearly distorted by some device, spoke to her, belonging to whoever was holding her. The two-toned woman's hair was finally released from the cruel grip, tossing her head to the floor. The emptied, dusty world around Kaitlyn shook for a few seconds, but now she was finally able to get a good look at whoever was standing in front of her. At first she saw a pair of feet, entirely covered in brown plush. As her sight traveled up north, she saw the rest of the costume. More brown plush with the exception of a stretched circle of white plush on the belly, the lilac waistcoat, the waistcoat… nothing about it had changed; it had remained the same, ever since that one night that changed everything back in the summer of 1980. Even the expression of that mask, the mask that had kept the identity of its owner successfully hidden during all the horrors he had committed, hadn't changed in the slightest; it still wore that expression that must have haunted all of AJ Lee's nightmares at the hospital and later on at the mental institution.

Mr. Buns didn't say anything for those few seconds as he stared down at Kaitlyn, paying no attention to Dolph's threat to kill him if he dared to hurt her again.

'Brian…' the two-toned woman said. 'It was you, wasn't it? AJ… Those girls…'

It was quiet in the stale basement; this accusation instantly silenced Dolph, whose eyes were now fully widened with sheer shock upon hearing this. That's when Mr. Buns' gloved hand took a hold of his mask, slowly pulling it off while his other hand reached behind the large bow tie, where a soft click could be heard once he had pinched his fingers, thus confirming that there had indeed some device had been used; after all, no human being could speak with such a demonically low pitch. Kaitlyn's and Dolph's sights were glued to the face that was about to be revealed, which was bound to be the true face of the real Hope's Creek Killer. The truth came out centimeter by centimeter.

Brown, neatly trimmed facial hair. An eerie smirk. A jaw line most men would've died for. Hair that draped on the shoulder once the mask was lifted up high enough. Cold, blue eyes that could make your blood freeze with one singly glance, no longer able to express the false friendliness he had kept up this whole time.

While Dolph's paled face expressed nothing more but pure horror, Kaitlyn's expressed fully justified anger.

The man, the monster, the demon that terrorized Hope's Creek, taking three innocent lives while ruining those of their families and that of the girl who should have been his fourth victim back in 1980, was Brian Kendrick.

'You got that damn right.' he calmly answered; right after he said this, he darkly chuckled.

'What… Brian, are you… Is this… What the… what the fu… what the fuck is this?!' The last four words of this sentence were furiously shouted out as Dolph's absolute horror was mixed with disbelief and rage. 'You were the one who killed those girls?! Did you fuck up AJ on that night?! Brian, you… you…!'

Filthy motherfucker. Fucking bastard. Monster. Sick fuck. Murderer. Goddamn psycho.

There were simply no insults that could be hurled at Brian 'Mr. Buns' Kendrick, for no insult was harsh enough; both Dolph and Kaitlyn came to realize this as nothing else but sheer hate was all they could feel right now. All this time, this whole goddamn time Kaitlyn had been in Hope's Creek searching for the answers of what happened to her friend while fearing for her own life and trying to not mentally and emotionally fall apart for AJ's sake, the monster responsible for the grisly deaths of Alicia, Liv and Morgan had been around her ever since the first day she had arrived in Hope's Creek. The real Hope's Creek Killer had made her breakfast, offered his friendship and help, let her sleep in his house, she had enjoyed his show, she had even fucking comforted him when he was deeply saddened by his late sister's memory, it was impossible to tell which one of these realizations fueled her disgust and anger most. The truth had been dangling in front of her without her realizing it until Brian's own forgetfulness practically brought an unintentional end his sick little game, he must have realized that once Kaitlyn had presented him with AJ's walkman. Brian hadn't just pulled off a mask belonging to a costume right now; he had also pulled off the mask of that of a helpful friend, revealing the face that belonged to a lying, ferocious, savage monster. There he was, still wearing that infuriatingly sickening, smug smile on his face, as if he were proud of this revelation, glancing at the blonde bar owner, completely unmoved by the fact that this once so close friendship that was now destroyed beyond repair. All Dolph could do was silently express pure rage, as it was impossible to verbally express his fury, his face reddened, eyes shooting razor sharp daggers and his breath trembled when he audibly breathed out through his nose.

'Holy shit, Dolph…' Brian chuckled. 'I have never seen you this pissed before! Quite a shocker, I get it. I hadn't been planning on ever letting you in on my little secret, but fuck it. That bitch got me. And you just happened to be involved. Tough shit. You can only blame yourself for it, pal.'

'Fuck… you…!' his former best friend hissed.

Brian decided to pay no further attention to his seething former friend and then shifted his focus to Kaitlyn. As soon as he got her in his sight, the smile shrunk. 'You really think I didn't recognize when you dropped by Ziggler's on that day?' he said with a sudden cold tone in his voice. 'Oh yes… you may have not seen me back then, but I definitely saw you, bitch. I knew I had seen that face of yours somewhere before. You can thank Dolph for saying your name on that moment, it was all it took to refresh my memory. You were AJ's friend during that summer. Seeing you showing up in Hope's Creek after all those years made it so easy for me to guess why you were there… I just had to know for sure. That's why I followed you all the way to that motel. I heard everything you and Dolph said while I was hiding in those bushes near the window. You came back because of AJ, just as I thought. I knew right then that I had to kill you as quick as possible. Why…' That's when a hint of frustration snuck its way in and blended together with the cold tone. His mouth turned into a flat, contemptuous line. 'Why couldn't you just fucking die in those woods?'

Kaitlyn remained silent for a few seconds, her furious glares doing most of the talking.

'You've killed them… Alicia… Carmella… Liv…!' she exclaimed; it was the third name that made tears well up in the corners of her furious eyes. 'Why, Brian? Why?! You murdered them and ditched hem like they were nothing, like they were trash! They never deserved this! How could you?!'

It seemed that not even the memories of the frightened, screaming, tearstained faces of his helpless victims seconds before their brutal deaths at his gloved hands could spark one bit of remorse, judging by that look of contempt that could clearly be read from Brian's face. That's when it struck Kaitlyn. They truly never meant a thing to them, no wonder he had dumped their bodies this carelessly and cruelly. He never saw them as human beings, he hadn't seen them as young girls whose futures were still ahead of them. Futures that could have been bright, secure and happy… and were never realized, all because of this murderous monster. And how likely could it have been that he had touched them in that same repulsive, shameless, perverted manner as he did to AJ before he drove off in the night with them…? Knowing how big this chance was made the two-toned woman sick to her stomach.

'Melissa…' Brian said. 'She… She was so beautiful when she was young… innocent... pure. Like any girl should be. To me, she was the perfect girl… But when she grew older, I saw the changes coming. I saw her getting rid of those dresses, her stuffed animals being dumped in the attic, the make-up stacking up on her vanity. I knew what she would become. She was going to be what all those girls are bound to be when they grow up. Filthy, fucking whores. I knew I couldn't let her turn into one, ever. I couldn't let Melissa change. I tried everything I could, believe me. I had ripped up her new clothes, rubbed the make-up off of her face, threatened to beat the shit out of a guy at school that she had a crush on once… but nothing seemed to work. She wouldn't go back to being innocent, no matter what I tried! She was so goddamn stubborn! I never gave up though, I continued trying to force to remain her pure, beautiful self until she…' At this point he was forced to pause to inhale through his nose and loudly breathe out; the memory of Melissa Kendrick's unfortunate, gruesome death was most definitely enough to strike something inside him. After a few seconds of silence, Brian had pulled himself together enough to continue talking. 'When Melissa died in her hospital bed on that day… my whole world fell apart. My life wasn't complete anymore. For four years I walked around with this grief that no therapist could ease. Melissa was everything to me… But then, one day, after those years… I knew what to do to heal myself. I came to realize what I truly wanted… and that was a perfect little girl, all for me. Yes… a girl who would remain innocent forever. And I knew that I could be able of keeping her that way, by any means necessary. I realized that I could protect them from turning into dirty sluts! It was what I was meant to do in this life! And those girls died because they wouldn't behave! They got what they deserved for denying my love and care for them! The only good disrespectful little bitch is a dead one!'

'Monster…' Kaitlyn hissed.

'Brian… I swear to God…' Dolph said, his voice hoarse with rage. 'When I get this tape off my wrists and ankles, I'll fucking murder you, you hear me?! You're… fucking… dead!'

The murderous lunatic that bore a twisted obsession of the concept of perfect innocence who was once his closest friend once again didn't to heed this fully justified threat of the blonde bar owner as he continued to speak to Kaitlyn, deciding reveal a bit more of the dark secret he had been effortlessly carrying with him for nearly two decades without ever feeling one ounce of remorse or self-loathing. 'But I'll admit… I was getting a bit full of myself when I thought the police were never able to catch me. I was getting cocky. When I couldn't take AJ with me, I realized that perhaps it would have been better to lay low. That was such a goddamn hard thing to do, but it was the right choice in the end. That dead old pedophile couldn't have been more of an amazing scapegoat, if you'd ask me. Everybody thought that it had been him all that time, and nobody, not even the police had suspected me. Not one bit of evidence that lead towards me… it was absolutely perfect. I fucked off right out of Hope's Creek as soon as I could afterwards. And well… who knows, Kaitlyn? How can you be so sure Alicia, Carmella and whatshername… oh right, Liv… had been the only girls? It could have been many more, or maybe not… But I'm afraid you won't be able to wrap your fucking head around this, because you know why? I can't let you have AJ. She's mine. She will stay with me forever as my perfect little girl.'

Brian then turned around and slowly walked towards the plank on the floor that the two-toned woman had spotted earlier upon waking up, picking it up and finally shifting his attention to Dolph; it only took four steps to stand in front of his former friend. Seeing the plank, which was thick enough to cause damage to a human skull with the right amount of force, made Kaitlyn's already sickened stomach sink straight towards her feet, having an absolutely horrifying idea of what he could possibly do with that piece of wood. The sheer anger in her eyes briefly made place for horror as she managed to whimper one word three times over. 'No… no, no…!'

'I wish I could say I was sorry for this, Dolph… but you know too much by now.' Then, just as Kaitlyn had feared, the plank was raised in the air, high enough to touch the ceiling. On that moment, the anger in Dolph's eyes was replaced with fear as well, knowing damn well what was coming to him. Not one shred of emotion could be spotted in those cold marbles that were Brian's eyes. 'It's been nice knowing you, pal.'

Exactly one second after the plank was swung down and struck Dolph right on the left side of his head, a shrill scream emerged from Kaitlyn's mouth. The impact was enough to knock him to the floor on his side and much the two-toned woman's horror, she didn't hear him make any noise upon being struck or when his body landed on the cold, dusty floor. She screamed her lover's name and scooted closer to his motionless body, her widened eyes that were now filling up with tears fixated on his ribcage with the hope that she could catch one glimpse of Dolph breathing, but God, oh God, no, she couldn't tell… Even though Kaitlyn had scooted towards him as close as she could, she wasn't able to tell whether there was blood leaking out of his head either. The two-toned woman called out Dolph's name two more times as the tears spilled over her cheeks, fearing the absolute worst while also dearly hoping that he would respond to her voice, be it by simply emitting a groan or lifting his head, anything, just anything that would indicate he was still alive… but he didn't respond; not one muscle was moved. Oh no, no, please God… Dolph! Kaitlyn let out a loud, enraged sob before fixating her sight back at Brian, who hadn't said one single word while staring down at the motionless body of his former friend and the hysteric woman who had the nerve to try and rescue his beloved 'little girl', his face still lacking one trace of emotion. The plank was still held tightly in his fist, though strangely enough, not one drop of blood could be spotted on the wood.

'Goddamn you!' Kaitlyn furiously screamed at Brian at the top of her lungs, her voice so loud and filled with so much rage that it hurt her throat. 'You fucking bastard!'

Right then, Brian's mouth twitched into a small, mocking smirk. Not once had he blinked during this entire time; the smirk combined with those remorseless eyes only added to the eeriness that he was practically radiating with from the moment he had taken off his mask and was the closest thing that came to an actual emotion. Did he also have that same strange expression on the moments where he dragged Alicia, Liv and Carmella inside his van, holding them tightly as they barely had any time to react at the cruel fate that suddenly befell them? Possibly so… you truly couldn't possibly be a human being if you plan and actually commit these horrible things without feeling one ounce of remorse or disgust, let alone after murdering them for 'misbehaving'. Brian simply had always been a monster who just appeared like a human being whenever he saw fit, like a disguise you put on whenever it's needed. As soon as he would turn into Mr. Buns, he would fully abandon his humanlike appearance; Mr. Buns allowed him to be who he truly was.

While Brian smirked, he barely audibly scoffed. 'You can scream at me as much as you want, bitch. It won't matter, just stop wasting your energy. Oh, believe me… I will gladly bash your fucking head in right now.'

He held the wooden plank with two hands now and raised it high above his head, a much different pose in comparison to the one he had seconds before he had before striking Dolph. Kaitlyn immediately knew by one glance at this stance that he was going to use all the strength he had to smash her skull, he was going to kill her with one blow, she was absolutely sure of that. This strike would be more than enough to turn her brains into a gory pulp. It was just now that something broke through the unnatural coldness of his eyes; the first glimmer of the pure madness inside Brian Kendrick was beginning to shine through. The smirk then turned into a wide, almost triumphant grin, clearly exposing more of the darkness that had formed his entire being.

There was one thing that this sick fucker didn't know though; Kaitlyn wasn't planning on wasting her energy any further by furiously shouting to begin with.

He was standing right in front of her, perfectly within her reach.

It was her hatred, disgust and the will to live long enough to find AJ and see this monstrous creature that had ruined her childhood burn in the deepest pits of Hell that gave her the extra amount of strength. Just as the plank was five centimeters away from landing on her head, the two-toned woman used the only two limbs that even though were tied together, still worked perfectly to defend herself with; her legs. Never in her entire life had she delivered a kick this hard. Her feet found the exact spot she had been planning to aim for, which was the left knee cap. She struck it with both feet and by God, did she struck it hard. First the sound of the kneecap cracking could be heard, dry, brief and painful but undeniably satisfying for any enraged victim to hear, then the howl of pain that was emitted by the psychotic madman. His grip around the plank was instantly loosened enough for it to be dropped to the floor, landing right next to Brian, who fell on his knees. He pushed out a loud groan through his clenched teeth as more pain crackled through his left leg.

'You fucking bitch!' he bellowed at the two-toned woman. 'I will fucki-'

Kaitlyn saw another chance and she took it without thinking twice about it. She pulled her legs to her chest and was able to launch another powerful kick; this time, her feet stomping right onto Brian's forehead with full force. Though there was unfortunately no crack to be heard this time, the madman's neck still heavily arched while he was knocked to the floor, landing on his back with a hard thud. Thankfully the kick was able to cause at least some well-deserved damage, because Kaitlyn was able to catch a glimpse of a wide stream of blood trickling down his face, which was contorted in a mask of pain. He let out a groan before slightly writhing around, unable to get up; she must have kicked him senseless. This was her chance, she knew. Her one and only chance to get the fuck away from him! Adrenaline pumped through her veins like raw electricity as the two-toned woman's teeth managed to sink into the duct tape that kept her wrists bound together and she began frantically pulling her head, hoping that it would be this tactic that could free her. She hardly noticed the pain that filled up her gums, barely tasted the thin trickle of blood on her tongue while she continued to pull with the tape clenched between her teeth, only caring about getting this damn tape of her wrists before that bastard could get up. Come on goddamn it, come on! That's all she could think during these seconds, over and over again. And then she felt it, hearing it, even. The tape finally ripped, not all the way through like she had hoped to, but it was still loose enough to free her wrists. Pain could be felt on the skin on the wrist of her right hand as she pulled it through the loop of loosened tape, freeing both of her hands at last. That's when she immediately went for the tape around her ankles, getting a hold on the edge after deeply scratching on it with her fingernails in order to get a better grip on it and she quickly ripped it off, ignoring the pain on her skin that came along with after ripping it off her bare ankles. By the time the now useless strip of tape was sticking to her ankle, the two-toned woman noticed Brian slowly rolling onto his side while softly groaning.

Kaitlyn was freed from her bindings, but she still needed to get the fuck out of this basement, and that's exactly what she did. The adrenaline didn't lighten for one bit when she got up on her feet and bolted to the flight of stairs as if the Devil himself was chasing her, which might very well be the case if Brian managed to get back up on his feet. Her heart pounded in the back of her throat and her eyes were fully widened with fear as she ran up the stairs. The wood creaked heavily as rapid thumping echoed through the basement. A shriek escaped out of the two-toned mouth as she nearly tripped, almost landing on a step with her knees, but she thankfully managed to regain her balance just in time and continue running, her hand reaching out for the doorknob. She was soon thankfully close enough to touch the cold metal of it with the tips of her fingers and grabbed it a second later; if Kaitlyn had twisted that doorknob any harder, she might have very well broken it. And thank God, oh thank fucking God, the door wasn't closed! Even though Kaitlyn had the urge to, she didn't want to look over her shoulder, fearing that she would be greeted with Brian's furious, bloodied face if she dared to do so.

The basement door flew open when the two-toned woman leapt to her freedom; the doorknob hit the wall with so much impact that it immediately left a hole in it. Knowing damn well that Brian would go after her as soon as he would get back up on his feet, Kaitlyn instantly shut the door behind her and closed it. As soon as she heard that small click, a small sense of safety washed over her. But for how long was a locked door going to hold him back? The two-toned woman assumed that, given that Brian was going to be absolutely fucking pissed as soon as he'd reach the top of the stairs, it would only be a relatively short time.

Right on that moment, a smell that wasn't able to sneak all the way into the basement filled up her nose... it was something that she recognized so easily. What the hell? She looked up to the ceiling and her assumption was immediately proven right. A thin layer of dark smoke was crawling across the worn ceiling like a large, cloudy spider, spreading that recognizable odor that grew stronger by the second. Something was definitely burning, no doubt about it. But where, damn it? Had that bastard Brian set fire somewhere before he went into the basement? As Kaitlyn looked around, she saw another door on her right, which was closed; on her left, there was an empty hallway, where the smoke had already clouded a large portion of the ceiling. And that's when Kaitlyn heard it; the thumping and shouting somewhere upstairs. Someone was banging on either a door or the floor like crazy and yelling a string of obscenities to a certain person in a rabbit costume while also telling to come upstairs, and though most of what was yelled was muffled down, the two-toned woman could still tell that the voice of that person was feminine… and sounded so familiar that it made her heart, that had still been pounding like a sledgehammer instantly drop to her feet. She couldn't help but drop her jaw in shock.

Oh dear God, was it really… her…?

The two-toned woman rushed into the hallway, where it became harder to breathe. 'AJ!' she shouted at the top of her lungs, which started to hurt as soon as smoke found its way in. 'Is it you? Can you hear me? Please, say something! I'm here! AJ!'

The thumping and shouting stopped while she had called her out. A few seconds of silence followed, where you could clearly hear something crackling in what might be a room. Then the voice suddenly replied, and though it was muffled, the two-toned woman could exactly hear what that person was saying.

'Kaitlyn…?!'


	32. Burn In Hell

**Chapter 32**

 **Burn In Hell**

Oh yeah, she had been called crazy a lot of times throughout her life; many, many times. By her own mother at some occasions, by those girls at school, hell, several of her shitty ex-boyfriends had pointed this out several times whenever a heated argument was taking place, which happened quite often during these past relationships. This accusation was all it took to make her snap, for she had been absolutely sure that she was everything but crazy. She wasn't crazy, she was just… AJ Lee. She was herself, that's all. Unique in her own way, proud to be different than all the other girls in Hope's Creek, that's how she saw it. But it was only now, for the very first time in her life, that she had no trouble in admitting it. The plan she had come up with at some point while she had been sitting on her bed, was absolutely, without a doubt, batshit crazy.

There had been too many times she had been on the verge of hyperventilating while she had been alone after fearing the absolute worst thing he could possibly do to her, something which was in her opinion, much, much worse than death. Had Alicia, Liv and Carmella had gone through the same thing during their captivity? AJ couldn't remember ever reading about traces that indicated that this sick fuck had raped them had been found on their bodies, so perhaps not. But he most likely must have touched them in the same perverted way he did to her, she was convinced about that, unless his desire to keep his freshly captured 'little girl' untouched somehow overlapped his dark lust at that very moment… of which that chance might have been very small. But he had made it horrifyingly clear that he wanted to go much further than only putting his hands on spots she wouldn't allow him to touch again in a million years, it were those same spots on which she could still feel his disgusting hands for years to come. And it was his image of a perfect little girl, untouched and innocent, that suddenly happened to resurface that saved her and made him leave her alone. It was on that bed where AJ remained for the following hours, which felt like an agonizing century to her, all by herself, sobbing hysterically, trembling uncontrollably and absolutely terrified out of her mind. He was this close to doing it, that sick bastard, dear fucking God… you could call it a miracle that this horrifying thought didn't cause her to vomit all over the sheets as well. The petite woman had no idea how much time had passed before she eventually managed to somewhat calm down, but to her, it felt like a whole century had passed. Her tears had dried up. Even though some of the warmth of the summer could be felt in the room, her exposed chest felt ice cold by the time she regained some control over the trembling throughout her body. It was only then when she realized how much physical pain she had been during the time her distress blocked out everything else; perhaps the bruises had already formed by now, it was most likely. Her ribs felt like they would crumble into sharp chips if she dared the move a muscle. Various spots on her limbs stung, painfully warm and rhythmically pulsating with pain. Mr. Buns had kicked her stomach so many times that she wouldn't be able to keep in any food for the following days, not even the smallest amount, it hurt that much; AJ hoped to God that it wasn't ruptured or anything.

This is how it was going to be. For as long as he would keep her here in this sugarcoated prison, this was going to be her life. She would wake up with fear and go to sleep with fear. Obedience would be the key to survival. Soon she would be nothing more but a robot in a pretty dress, because that's what he wanted. That's what he wanted from all those girls. Perfect little girls didn't talk back. Perfect little girls would always have tea parties with him. Perfect little girls didn't need to be beaten to be 'set straight', because they knew how to behave. Her opinion and feelings would never matter in the slightest (not that they ever mattered to begin with, now that she thought about it); everything she was going to say was to please her captor. Freedom would slowly turn into a forgotten concept. As long as she would 'behave', she was going to be safe from the unholy rage that caused three gruesome deaths for as far as she knew.

And she sure as hell wasn't going to fight back if the barely-hidden, lustful desires he had for his perfect little girl get the better of him.

That's how the rest of AJ Lee's life was going to look like.

It was on that moment where a switch inside the petite woman's brains was switched, causing them to finally function normally. Her breath shivered as she breathed in while staring at the ceiling. No… not this… No way in hell did she wish to live like that. There was another way to survive, and it wasn't by obeying and pleasing that bastard and playing her role in that twisted fantasy world he was living in. Staying here would allow all of this to happen, so there was only one way to avoid this miserable existence that was waiting for her.

She had to get out of this pastel-colored hell hole before she would go fucking insane.

But how…?

Air was pushed through AJ's clenched teeth as she carefully sat up; her ribs were in absolute agony, but thankfully they turned out not to be broken once she was sitting up and she began looking around in her prison for any possibility, all while trying her best to stay calm. There had to be a gap in this system; no matter how small it would be, it could still offer the petite woman a chance to escape. Her sight was first set on the boarded windows, where the last rays of sunshine for today shone inside the bedroom. It would only be a matter of time before they would fade and she would be left in increasing darkness. AJ already had convinced herself that it would be impossible for her to rip those wooden beams off not only due to the fact of the numerous nails that had been used for each beam to be tightly nailed to the window frames, but also because her weakened, sore body wouldn't be able to summon enough to strength to even loosen up those nails. So unfortunately, escaping through a window wasn't going to be the option to escape. Nor was simply leaving her prison through the door; Mr. Buns had locked it before her left, just like he always did when exiting, and she couldn't spot anything around her that she could use to knock that door out of its hinges, not something that could help her to unlock it. Shit… was there even a possibility to escape? AJ desperately tried to block this thought out, trying to keep her newfound hope up. The petite woman continued looking, attempting to produce ideas while it felt like her brains were going into overdrive. If getting away through the door or window wasn't going to be the solution, something else had to be. Her sight fell on the toppled dinner table and the chairs, of which the former had crushed the porcelain heads of two defenseless dolls earlier. It was the two chairs that made triggered the following thought inside her head. Simply escaping from her captor wasn't going to be enough. There was always that one horrifying chance that he was going to come after her, because after all, he didn't want to lose his little princess again. And once he would recapture her… well, then she would most likely see the very same thing Carmella, Alicia and Liv saw before they died, that being the frozen, cartoonish expression printed on that mask.

That's why Mr. Buns had to die.

A chair would be the perfect weapon to knock that son of a bitch to the ground, maybe enough to knock him out, but not to kill him. But it would be useful, nonetheless. Yes, she could lift a chair, she was convinced of that despite her aching body she could still lift it up high enough in order to deliver a blow to his head. An idea for a weapon to defend herself with was there, but then what could she do to make absolutely sure it would kill that fucker? As painfully as possible was preferred, if you'd ask her. Looking around in her prison made her suddenly realize how badly she wished to destroy this damn place, tear the whole goddamn thing down, burn this pastel-colored torture room to pitch black ashes… It was one word in this latter thought that stuck with the petite woman: burn.

Burn…

That's when AJ fixated her sight on the hot plates. It was on those same cheap, stained hot plates where she had used to bake that lunatic's damn pancakes with in the late morning. They had been producing enough heat to make a proper meal, so most likely… The craziness began to kick in at that very moment, though the petite woman didn't realize much of that right then. Switching those plates on wouldn't be enough to cause a fire, but putting something that could be easily burned on it would do the job. And yes… there was plenty of stuff lying around her that could be burned. Toys, stuffed animals, video tapes, curtains, a table cloth, pillows… she could toss all that shit on those plates and set them on fire; it would only take one full, clock-wise turn with the switch to turn them into a flaming heap. Now that AJ was thinking about it… aside of being unable to think of any other secure way that would definitely kill that bastard after knocking him down that required the small amount of strength that was still left inside that bruised, weakened body of hers, the petite woman couldn't think of a more perfect way to get back at him for making her go through absolute hell, both in the past and the present. These flames would burn down that precious, sugarcoated, demented world he would be living upon entering her prison to ashes, something she would gladly do. It would be like spitting him right in the face and she hoped to God that he would feel the flames devouring his plush costume as he'd lie on the floor, dazed out of his mind from the blow to his head that she would deliver with all of her strength and hatred, but soon snapping out of it due to the much-deserved pain he would feel on every inch of his body and die screaming in blazing agony.

There couldn't be more of a fitting death for that monster.

Like that, the whole plan AJ was forming inside her head came together. As soon as Mr. Buns would arrive home, she would flip that switch and let the flames briefly spread, then scream at her captor to quickly come upstairs (which he definitely would once he would smell the fire) while hiding out of his sight with the chair in her hands. And as soon as he'd storm inside… well, it would all be a matter of hitting him over the head as hard as she could. But one thing was for sure; as soon as he would be on the ground, she would make a run for it as if the Devil himself was after her, but not before locking the door behind her. If there wasn't a lock on the door, then surely there would be a key around, but the petite woman doubted that there would be any time to look for one, should the former occur. The door would still be slammed shut nonetheless though, it would help her buy some time to get the hell out whatever place he had been keeping her at. Hopefully she could find something heavy nearby, like a dresser, to slide in front of the door…

But what if she wouldn't make it out through that door for whatever reason…? It was that thought that made her realize how bat shit insane this plan truly was, but it didn't change her mind.

Well… then hopefully she could still take him with her. And now that she thought about it… death was a much more preferable fate than spending the remainder of her miserable life as Mr. Buns' prisoner, should he somehow decide not to brutally kill her for starting the fire. She remembered something her aunt Lucille, who unlike her mother, still visited the church every Sunday ever since she and her sister had been children, once said during the time AJ had been living with her after her mother's death. Aunt Lucille held the strong believe that your soul would go straight to Hell if you dared to commit suicide; given how she was forced to deal with the aftermath of her trauma after being released from the mental institution she had been staying at for two years, AJ figured that this was her aunt's iffy way to prevent her from ever thinking about killing herself. The bitter irony of being alive and yet still finding herself in a Hell that was colored with pastel shades wasn't lost on AJ Lee.

The petite woman dearly hoped that if she happened to die by either the smoke or the flames and indeed go to Hell, she wouldn't meet up with her mother.

And so she waited for Mr. Buns to come home, with her knees pulled up to her painful chest and her arms, on which ugly bruises were bound to appear on, wrapped around her legs, staring straight ahead of her in an almost trance-like state, calm, determined, not making one single sound, only blinking once in a while. As soon as she would hear him, her plan would be set to motion. No turning back. No other ideas which were saner than this one in comparison. This was really it; this was all she could do. And she would most definitely escape, in one way or another, be it alive or dead. As long as she could drag that rabbit suit wearing monster with her to those deep, foul, dark, reeking, burning pits where he belonged, which she would be more than glad to do so, she could die in peace.

A few hours later (AJ couldn't tell how many hours had passed exactly, it all felt like a century passing by to her but by the time she heard something outside below the window, it had already grown so dim in the bedroom that the only visible features of the stuffed animals were the shapes of their plush bodies), she heard a noise that was so easy to recognize, making her look up; her sore body had once again turned cold due to not moving a muscle during that time, but she barely noticed that. At first it could be heard from a distance, but as it got closer, it got clearly louder. It was the monotone roaring of what had to be the engine of a car or van, which eventually reached its destination. The sound was now coming from right below her window and for a split moment AJ hoped that it was in fact a police car. But looking at the gaps between the wooden beams, the petite woman realized that no bright blue and red lights shone through them, and thus this brief moment of hope was instantly crushed. But it didn't matter. As welcome as it would have been, she didn't need the police to escape right now. Then the vehicle must belong to Mr. Buns, no doubt about it. The engine was abruptly shut off and despite the aching in her legs, the petite woman managed to get closer to the boarded window. She held her breath as she listened to what was going on outside. A door of that vehicle was opened and then closed. A click could be heard, followed by the sound of sliding. Something landed on the ground with a rough thud a few seconds later, which was dragged across the ground afterwards. Then there was this click and creaking; the front door that was being opened, that had to be it. It was then when the dragging slipped inside, now accompanied by heavy, creaking footsteps. Then it sounded like another door was being opened; the dragging was replaced by rhythmic thumps with the occasional creak. All of those sounds suddenly turned so soft that it was impossible to hear anything for a few moments. AJ couldn't help but slightly frown. What the hell was going on down there? The moment of silence was brief as creaking, heavy footsteps were heard once more and headed outside. The order dragging, creaking and thumping were repeated once more but ended differently this time. After the footsteps were heard once more after the second short period of silence, AJ was convinced that she heard the front door being slammed shut and for one horrible second she thought Mr. Buns had left (dear God, she never thought of wishing that bastard to stay here for once), something that would put her plan on hold… but when she heard more footsteps downstairs, it became clear that he was still there.

Good.

Time to set the trap for that fucker.

Her pillow looked like the perfect sacrifice to start a proper fire. Blocking out all hesitation and with her mouth as dry as the cellar she had been kept in during the early days of her imprisonment, AJ quickly grabbed it and headed straight towards the hot plates. As she tossed the pillow on them, she figured that it was thick and big enough to start a fire. The petite woman knew damn well that after she would turn that switch there would be no turning back. As soon as this pillow would go up in flames, there was nothing around her that could extinguish them, should regret strike her hard. But hell... she had been waiting for this moment for hours.

AJ Lee's breath shook as she breathed out while fully turning both switches; doing this produced two loud clicks.

This was it. She took about three steps back, not taking her eyes off the pillow for a second, as if she had just lit the fuse of a bomb. It was this pillow and hot plates that were now her only hope of escaping this pastel-colored hell hole, there truly were no other ways to escape. This was all she could do. Her painful body had weakened so much that she could only be able to knock her captor down, that would be all. One strike with a chair wouldn't do the job… but fire could. AJ knew that it would take a little while for the hot plates to turn hot, she had found out about that when she had been forced to make Mr. Buns' breakfast; it had taken about ten minutes before they had been hot enough to bake a pancake on; the petite woman hoped to God that this time it would somehow take less than ten minutes to see the first deep-brown burn marks appearing on the polka-dotted fabric. Not for one second did she look away, her breath shaking each time she breathed out. As seconds ticked by, it strangely enough remained completely quiet downstairs, almost making her wonder what the fuck he was doing there to be this silent. Something told the petite woman that this silence wasn't going to last for long once that bastard would smell the flames. Knowing how much she meant to him, he would storm up those stairs in a matter of seconds, so she had to be ready. Deciding to look away for only a few seconds, AJ quickly walked over to the tipped table, grabbed one of the chairs and then walked to the wall, standing a few centimeters away from the door and setting her sight back on the hot plates. The petite woman had noticed that the chair didn't feel that heavy at all, and though she would be able to lift it, she hoped that it would still be heavy enough to knock him to the floor. There was plenty of pure, concentrated, burning hatred for him inside her, so if this could amplify her strength while swinging that chair, it surely would be enough.

Then, after a few more century-like minutes of silence, heavy heartbeats up in her throat and adrenaline-fueled breathing, it happened. It was small, but bright enough to be noticed in the dimness. A tiny, shapeless form framed with bright orange began to form on the pink polka dots, slowly eating up three of them. AJ let out a soft gasp and widened her eyes. Oh God… her plan was slowly coming to life. Now there truly was no turning back; the fiery seed had been planted and the first flames were about to sprout. Then the smell of burning fabric came, trickling inside her nose and giving her chills; the very smell that would soon turn much stronger and fill up the entire bedroom so much that it would be smelled all the way downstairs, impossible to be ignored. AJ saw how the smoldering patch expanded in a matter of seconds, consuming more portions of the pillow. A warm, orange glow was created in the meanwhile, shining a dim light on some of the surroundings and revealing the trickle of dark smoke that was now coming from this smoldering pile. It took one tiny flame, one of the first to be formed, to touch the stuffing of the pillow and turn it into a curling, black, fibred mess. In the blink of an eye, the rest of the stuffing followed, rapidly swallowed up new flames that had been formed. Less and less of the polka-dotted fabric remained, providing as more fuel to the newly-born fire. The glow around the flames turned brighter and hotter and the smell increased in heaviness; AJ stared at what she had created as if the flames had entranced her. It didn't last long before the petite woman started to feel the heat, increasing in warmth in seconds, eventually becoming so hot that it stung the skin on her face. By now, the smell of burning pillow had sunken into her shredded dress and hair. Just like that, the pillow had turned into a ball of fire, with its uncontrollable flames as bright and hot as they could get, just like the fury the petite woman had for the monster that had stolen everything from her. Her childhood, her identity, her freedom, the life of her best friend; soon enough, he would pay for all of this.

Right on that moment, the flames had grown large enough to reach one of the curtains behind the hot plates, eagerly eating away the mint green fabric, climbing higher and higher and audibly crackling. The other curtain soon followed as one of the flames jumped over and almost instantly spread. Though AJ had her breathing under control now, she noticed that it had become a bit more difficult to breath by now. With eyes that were widened rather in amazement than in shock, she silently watched as the fire claimed more fuel. Just as she had thought would happen, the flames spread to the wallpaper next, burning away the butterflies. AJ knew that now it would only be a matter of seconds before this fire would spread over to the rest of the walls; surely that sick fuck would be here by then. Her lungs began to painfully sting with each breath that she took, her eyes were slightly watering due to the reeking smoke that grew heavier as more wallpaper was scorched. But shouldn't he be running up those stairs by now? Hadn't he smelled the odor of her recklessly crafted escape plan and her vengeance? The crackling of the fire wasn't that loud just yet, but the petite woman didn't hear any rapid thumping on the wood. Well, then she had to speed things up just a bit. She let go of the chair and started to pound on the door as hard as she could; when she breathed in before shouting, the stinging heat settled inside her throat.

'Hey! Mr. Buns!' she shouted at the top of her lungs whilst continuing to ram her fist on the door over and over again. 'Yeah, I'm talking to you! You rabbit suit-wearing fuck face! Get over here! Everything here is on fucking fire! You don't want your little princess to burn, do you?! Then get the fuck upstairs and ge-' A cough ripped through her sore throat as it had briefly become impossible to spew any more venom; it took her a little though difficult moment to catch enough air to shout again. 'Get me out of here! Come on! Where are you, Mr. Buns? You'd better start running, shithead! Do you hear me?! Come on then, you fucking piece of sh-'

'AJ!'

It was this voice coming from downstairs that made the petite woman immediately fall silent. Her eyes widened with shock and disbelief. What…? Did she… did she just hear that right? She hadn't gone completely insane just yet, this voice couldn't have been in her head! Oh yes, she knew who that voice belonged to… but that was impossible! This couldn't be! Mr. Buns had murdered her! But why did she hear it then? Was that really… oh my God… Then the voice she recognized so well, that one voice she heard before heading off to Hope's Creek, loudly spoke to her again, making AJ Lee realizing that this wasn't some product of her abused mind, asking her if she could hear her and to answer to her.

Still in sheer disbelief, AJ spoke that name she never thought she could ever speak out again.

'Kaitlyn…?'

'AJ!'

'Kaitlyn!'

Oh dear fucking God, it was her! The petite woman began pounding on the door once more. 'Kaitlyn! I'm in here! I'm upstairs! Please hurry!' she screamed, trying her best to ignore the burning sensation in her lungs. Then she heard the thumping on the stairs, rapid and heading right to her. Another cough burst through the petite woman's throat, more painful than the previous one, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut for three seconds because they were stinging so much. She didn't look behind her, but she definitely knew that the fire had spread more by now. And she was right; flames had already begun to eagerly lick half of her bed, the plush furs of a teddy bear and two stuffed rabbits, a few members of the group of soft, silent witnesses of the abuse she had endured in this bedroom, turned black as the fire claimed them as its fuel, the porcelain face of one of the Victorian dolls cracked under the immense heat, the framed pictures on the walls were nothing more but burning squares, some of the wood of the dressing table curled inside those bright orange flames and the only thing you'd find in the toy box were flames, hungry for more fuel, more destruction. If AJ wasn't able to get the hell out of this bedroom, she was bound to be consumed by the fire she had created as well.

Thankfully the rapid footsteps reached the top of the stairs and headed straight towards the door; then the doorknob was frantically turned over and over again.

'Fuck… it's locked!' Kaitlyn Bonin exclaimed on the other side of the door.

'Is there a key around there or something?!' AJ asked. 'Please, hurry up!'

'W-Wait, hold on, hold on! I… Yeah, there's a key over here! I'm coming in! Hang on, AJ!'

Kaitlyn practically ripped the key from the nail that it had been dangling on, which had been sealed in the wall right next to the door through which smoke was pouring through the thin gaps. With nothing else but pure adrenaline ramming through her veins, she shoved the key inside the keyhole and if she had twisted it any harder, she might have well broken the damn thing in half. A click was heard. The door was swung open; the doorknob hit the wall with such an impact that it instantly created a crack.

Both women didn't speak one word as they stared at each other on that one moment, both of their eyes widened in pure disbelief; AJ must have had the hardest time believing what she was seeing, letting out a soft gasp. Oh God… it really was her, standing in that doorway. Kaitlyn… Kaitlyn was really there. Alive. This was real, she wasn't imagining this… Kaitlyn's chest heaved up and down as she tried to process what she was seeing, mouth slightly opened and tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. She had found her… this was so insane to believe.

Just as AJ wanted to run towards the two-toned woman and embrace her like her life depended on it, she saw a large figure appearing behind her thought-to-be-deceased friend in the blink of an eye like a ghost; the rage she saw on that figure's face made her gasp in shock.

'Kaitlyn, look out!' she screamed.

Brian Kendrick let out such a furious bellow that one could mistake it for a bellow coming from a demon. Just before Kaitlyn had any chance to turn around, the enraged psychopath brutally tackled her with his full weight, shoving her inside the burning bedroom; had AJ stood any closer near the door at that moment, then she surely would have been knocked to the ground. It took one swift, brutally hard blow from a plank to the two-toned woman's head to knock her straight to the floor, making the flaming world around violently shake in front of her eyes. AJ loudly gasped, locked eyes with her friend's attacker and shrieked in terror. Finally she had seen it; the face this sick bastard had been hiding behind that soft mask this whole time. And it absolutely terrified her. This was it; Mr. Buns' true face. Strands of dark brown hair were sticking onto the wide streak of blood that covered half of his face, which created a monstrous effect; while this face belonged to someone she had once vaguely known during the final months of her life in Hope's Creek, the blood didn't help her remember who this madman was, though a need to recognize this face was the last thought on her mind right now. Never had she thought that a human being could possibly express so much rage with his eyes; it was enough to make her legs go numb with fear. It took him two steps to enter the flame-filled bedroom and it was only then when AJ noticed blood dripping from the edge of the plank that he was tightly clenching in his hand; it took her so much strength to be able to take one step back from him. Small blood drops stained the bow tie and his costume. Then, as Mr. Buns/Brian Kendrick laid eyes upon the flames around them, she clearly saw an expression of pure horror forming on his face.

'What have you done?!' Brian bellowed as his face contorted back into murderous rage. 'You bitch! These were hers! These were all I had left of her! You will die for this! You're fucking dead! Fucking dead! Bitch!'

All that AJ could do was letting out a loud, fearful scream and raise her hands in an attempt to protect her face as her crazed captor charged at her with the bloody plank raised in the air, ready to viciously smash her brains into a bloody soup. Unfortunately, her hands did little to cushion the impact that was landed on her, still containing enough force to fling her to the floor, less than five inches away from the flames that had now consumed nearly the entire bed. From the second she felt a massive pricking pain across the palm of her right hand and something warm and liquid trickling down her wrist, the petite woman knew it was due to the impact ripping it open, but it was pure fear that overlapped this pain when she looked up. Brian was everything but done with her yet. The insane fury in his eyes hadn't lessened in the slightest when he was standing over her. Once again, the plank was raised into the air, this time all the way over his head; there was no doubt that this was going to be the killing blow and there was no way in hell he would stop even after this, because he would only stop until there would be nothing left of AJ's head, only some gory pile of teeth, flesh, brains and chips of bone; the bodies of his victims were proof of this assumption, especially Alicia's and Liv's.

'Just like all the previous ones in the end… another ungrateful little whore!' Brian shouted.

Thankfully the fatal blow to the petite woman's head was never realized, because Kaitlyn had fought off the blurry, black spots in front of her eyes just in time to tackle the crazed psychopath to the ground with a loud shout and barely feeling the thin stream of blood trickling down her left temple, causing the plank to fall out of his hands. Once the two-toned woman landed on the ground along with him, she didn't waste any time in getting back up on her feet to brutally kick and stomp the ever-living hell out of him, aiming especially at his stomach and head, each kick and stomp harder than the previous one. It was muffled out by the loud, dry crackling of the fire, but there was a sickening crack when Brian's nose met the tip of Kaitlyn's boot. The impacts contained nothing but pure hatred and rage. These were for Liv, for the other girls, for AJ's stolen childhood, for kidnapping her, for putting her through what must have been absolute hell, for Dolph, this bastard, murderer, this sick fuck, this goddamn monster deserved to feel all of the fury that was felt within these merciless kicks and stomps!

'God! Damn! You!' Kaitlyn shouted at him while delivering the last three kicks to his ribs, causing the final pained groans to escape from Brian's blood-soaked lips; the two-toned woman could swear she saw a loose molar slipping out of his mouth as he rolled onto his stomach. No, Kaitlyn hadn't stopped because she felt like he didn't deserve any more punishment, but because it was now almost impossible to normally breathe while being surrounded by a growing fire and thicker smoke, feeling an immensely unpleasant prickling sensation in both of her lungs. Just then, a strange, eerie noise that sounded like a mix between a wheeze and rattle could be heard coming from Brian. Not even that rain of absolutely justified violence was going to stop him; this became evident when Kaitlyn saw him placing his hands flat on the floor and starting to slowly lift himself up, all while continuing emitting that creepy sound. She must have kicked out whatever air he had inside him. One thing was for sure and Kaitlyn knew this damn well; as soon as this bastard would get back up on his feet, he wouldn't hesitate to attack her once more, because when he managed to move his foot for more support, the glance he gave to her during all this revealed that his murderous fury hadn't lessened in one bit. Nothing would stop him until both she and AJ would be dead.

That's when Kaitlyn sight fell on the raging fire inches behind Brian. She glanced back at him, then at the fire once more, and then at Brian again. There was a way to stop him, she realized. And she knew exactly what it was.

As gruesome as this solution was… she would never regret doing this.

Kaitlyn summoned whatever remained of the rage-fueled strength she hadn't been able to unleash on him and shoved Brian away from her as hard as she could before he had the chance to stand up straight. During that one crucial second, where he was still centimeters away from touching the flames, the two-toned woman saw that his expression had changed upon impact; knowing what was waiting behind him, his eyes were fully widened with pure horror. Exactly one second after seeing this, the man who had ruined the lives of so many in Hope's Creek fell into the flames with an audible thud. His screams immediately followed, screams that almost seemed inhuman, like a wild animal being roasted alive. Flames engulfed the plush costume, coloring it black and fusing it with the skin underneath the fabric at the same time, permanently burning inside the reddening flesh. It wasn't only the burning suit that already created this foul smell of flaming, stale, dusty fabric; the unbearable smell of burning human flesh soon overwhelmed the latter, repugnant, sickening and immensely heavy, almost sending Kaitlyn on the verge of gagging. Not once did Brian stop screaming in sheer agony as he rolled across the floor and wildly flailed his arms as if still trying to grab a hold on either Kaitlyn or AJ, his hands resembling scorched claws and occasionally hitting his burning body in a vain attempt to put out the flames that were burning him alive on the spot. As almost impossible as it was to look away from this gruesome sight, Kaitlyn realized that she and her friend would be next to burn if they wouldn't get the hell out of this place and ran towards AJ, who was still lying on the ground and had witnessed everything with nothing but pure horror on her face.

'Come on AJ, we've got to leave! Now!' the two-toned woman said as she took a hold of her friend's hand and pulled her up. Despite the pain throughout her shaking body, she managed to get back up on her feet with Kaitlyn's help. From the moment she was standing up, both women didn't wait for one more second to make a run for it. The door was so close, it would only take a few steps if they ran fast enough to get out. Kaitlyn tightly held AJ's forearm as they ran towards the door, barely able to avoid the flames that had now taken over most of the bedroom and hardly seeing a damn thing through the thick smoke. But it was just within their reach; the fully opened door that would not only offered their escape from the most agonizing death imaginable, but also offering the freedom that had nearly felt like a faded memory to AJ during these hellish days. The two-toned woman reached out with her other hand, planning on grabbing that doorknob as soon as they got through that door and slam it shut behind them to keep the flaming monster inside. They were close, so goddamn close… and that's when a bloodcurdling scream from the pits of Hell made both Kaitlyn and AJ stop dead in their tracks and turn around; this very scream was bound to haunt all nightmares that were to be dreamt for years to come.

Not even being set on fire did stop Brian Kendrick from wishing to end the lives of the two women. Barely any visible features could be found on him as he ran towards them with his arms, covered with boiling flesh and open wounds, reached out in one final attempt to grab a hold on his precious 'little girl', only the shape of his body and the pitch-black, screaming hole that was his mouth. Fear failed to get the better of Kaitlyn. Without any hesitation whatsoever and with the wish to end this nightmare once and for all, she let go of AJ and struck the human bonfire that was Brian right in the center of what should have been his face, making him lose his balance and promptly putting an end to that horrifying scream. The two-toned woman and her friend didn't feel any need to watch his body hitting the floor; as soon as they stepped outside, Kaitlyn slammed the door shut and quickly twisted the key until there was a click. Then she tossed it to the floor, grabbed the petite woman's arm once more and ran towards the stairs. Smoke floated above their heads when they rushed downstairs. There was no way AJ couldn't have heard this, but Kaitlyn did at this moment, and despite the heat that could still be felt halfway down the stairs, it made a chill run up her spine. It was the most haunting wail she had ever heard, coming from behind the locked door… and it was clearly Brian's voice, wailing a certain name.

'Melissa…!'

Then nothing more but a string of bloodcurdling screams of blazing pain could be heard afterwards.

Hadn't Kaitlyn caught AJ just in time when she was this close to tripping over her own feet, she surely would have made a nasty tumble down the stairs. They made it to the bottom and while looking around her with her eyes still widened in fear, it was confirmed in AJ's mind that she had indeed been held captive inside a house this entire time. Some of the smoke had crouched down from the ceiling to the walls, covering most of the tears and cracks that had formed on them during the years the house had been left abandoned, making her oblivious of how decrepit its state actually was. The front door was to their left, a good five steps away from the bottom of the stairwell, and to their right was the hallway, and the at very end the door that lead to the basement had been knocked out of its hinges, displaying how much thirst of blood and rage there had been inside Brian in order to break free from the basement.

And lying in the basement's doorway, wrists still bound and with his tied-up legs still resting on the flight of stairs below him, was Dolph Ziggler, looking around with a dazed look in his eyes, but alive.

'Kaitlyn… Where…' The blonde bar owner was forced to let a cough interrupt himself. 'Where… Where are you?!'

Kaitlyn's jaw dropped when she saw him, relief crashing over her so heavily that it brought tears to her eyes. Oh God, oh thank God! She exclaimed her lovers name and rushed towards him, AJ following her, blinking her eyes with surprise. The two-toned woman knelt down as soon as she reached her lover, her tears nearly spilling over her cheeks as her knees touched the floor.

'Oh my God, you're alive!' she exclaimed. 'I thought you… were…'

'Where is Brian?' Dolph asked. He didn't need an explanation from Kaitlyn though; the muffled, almost animalistic bellows, banging, and the unmistaken smell of burning flesh coming from upstairs provided him with the brutal but relieving answer to that question.

'We have to leave, now!' Kaitlyn slid her hands underneath Dolph's armpits and despite his weight, managed to drag the rest of his body through the doorway. He must have scooted his way up the stairs when he regained consciousness, she figured. She found it hard to believe that Brian had taken the time to drag him up the stairs while trying to escape the basement. 'There's a fire upstairs and I'm damn sure it's going to spread! Hang on, I will get out you out of these!' Her fingers trembled due to her immense relief and it was difficult to spot the edge of the tape, but once she had found it on the tape that kept his wrists tied together, she immediately ripped it off, pulling the tape until the wrists were finally freed. Thankfully the edge of the tape around his ankles was easier to find and they too were untied in a matter of seconds.

'There.' Kaitlyn said as she tossed the tape, now rolled into a lump, into the darkness of the basement. 'Are you okay? Can you stand? Can you walk?'

'A bit woozy, but yeah. I think I can.'

'Then let's go! Quick! Come on!'

A hint of dizziness made the insides of his head feel like floating for a brief moment when Dolph stood up, but thankfully it vanished as he managed to shake it off by rapidly blinking his eyes and rubbing his temple. The rest of this dizziness was erased when surprise overtook him, all because of laying his eyes upon the petite woman who he recognized as AJ Lee, standing behind Kaitlyn, her hair tied in two messy pigtails and wearing a shredded dress, looking like this night was going to haunt her for the rest of her life, but alive and in one piece.

'Holy shit…' the blonde bar owner mumbled almost inaudibly. 'AJ…'

There would be plenty of time later to marvel at her discovery; all three of them knew they had to leave immediately and ran into the hallway, straight towards the front door. The foul stench of a burning, howling Brian that had found its way downstairs had now become so strong that it nearly dominated the suffocating smell of the smoke that Dolph audibly gagged before coughing once more.

The front door, thank God in Heaven, wasn't locked.

Cold evening air fell onto them like a toppling brick wall when they stormed outside, rushing towards the street in front of the house and deeply inhaling the fresh air. Once their feet touched the asphalt, they stopped running and turned around to witness what they had left behind. AJ's prison turned out to be one of the bedrooms on the second floor of one of the many old, abandoned, dilapidated houses that decorated the oldest neighborhood of Elm Town. Even while standing from outside, Brian's muffled screams could be heard and made even more audible when one of the boarded-up windows succumbed to the heat inside, shattering into pieces and allowing the burning psychopath's screaming to spill into the cold night. Massive flames found their way past the beams, clawing their way outside. Soon the fire turned into the only source of light in the whole street, if not the whole neighborhood, shining onto the walls of the other houses, the sidewalk, street and severely neglected front yards with a warm, orange glow. Countless embers traveled upwards to the sky, towards the stars, but all of them were bound to dim after flying for only five seconds.

It was over.

The nightmare was finally over.

When the realization of her being free at last struck AJ, her legs gave up on her. Kaitlyn kneeled down on the asphalt along with her, allowing her to tightly hold onto her tank top and press her face against her shoulder, tears streaming across her face as she cried hysterically. The two-toned woman wrapped her arms around her, softly sobbing in pure relief, spilling just as many tears as her friend. Dolph continued to silently watch the flames in awe, unable to look away.

The monster that was Brian Kendrick would forever fall silent after three more seconds of screaming.


	33. Good To See You Again

**Chapter 33**

 **Good To See You Again**

'Well, shoot. _Casa La_ AJ has definitely seen better days.' AJ had mumbled while laying eyes upon that one little hut that had meant so much to her back in her younger days, the memory of the exact route through the bushes still fresh inside her head despite nearly two decades had passed. And when she placed her hands on her hips while talking, Kaitlyn had seen how little she had changed over the years, catching a glimpse that unique, tomboyish energy that she was radiating with, having somehow mostly remained intact, even to this day. Truly, she hadn't seen anything like that in ages, not even during the last, brief time they had been reunited. It was a bit of a miracle that the two-toned woman's mind was capable of noticing this, still half-dazed from the nightmarish, unforgettable events that had taken place in that old house in Elm Town last night.

Only Kaitlyn, AJ and Dolph were the witnesses of the fire that not only ended the twisted life of Brian Kendrick, but also to the house in its entirety. It hadn't last long before the raging blaze that had found its way out of the windows spread to the rest of the house, covering everything inside as well as the outside in thick, bright, fresh flames. The two-toned woman had held her friend in her arms for what felt like a surreal but relieving eternity, sobbing with her and whispering reassuring words to her while occasionally running her hand over her hair. AJ herself hadn't witnessed much of the rest of the house going up in flames due to her face being buried in Kaitlyn's shoulder for most of the time; the fabric of the tank top was soaking wet with warm tears by the time she lifted her head. During the whole time he watched the house being further consumed by the fire, Dolph hadn't spoken one single word, the same expression remaining on his face the entire time until he finally found his voice back; eyes widened and mouth slightly agape, silent awe. So much must have been going through that dazed head of his to make this expression. The realizations of a life-long close friend revealing an unimaginably dark side after many years, as well as said friend having no issue with trying to crack his skull open in order to prevent him from ever spilling the beans about the aforementioned dark side and barely having escaped from death were certainly the causes for this; truly, Dolph had all right to be shocked beyond belief. There had been this one brief, horrifying moment where Kaitlyn expected Brian, somehow still alive despite being trapped in a flame-filled bedroom, to storm outside like a human torch in one final attempt to drag them back inside the house and kill them either with his own hands or let the blaze do the gruesome work, but thankfully this terrifying sight was never realized. How long had they been watching? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour? A whole hour? None of them had the exact answer; it was as if time had ceased to exist on that harrowing night. Someway, somehow, the blonde bar owner was able to find any words to speak. Though his voice had been soft on that moment, AJ and Kaitlyn still heard it above the crackling of the flames.

'Let's go.'

There was nobody living in this abandoned neighborhood to call the police or the fire department, but people who lived close enough near this neighborhood to spot the flames and the glow that colored the night sky in a faint shade of orange, surely would. They could very well be on their way, for all they knew. Kaitlyn had given Dolph a small nod in agreement and helped AJ to get back up on her feet. As they walked away from the blazing house that served as a place of twisted control and abuse days prior to being burned down, all three found it hard to not look over their shoulder to glance at the inferno one last time; by the time they were standing at the end of the street, they had looked behind them at least two times.

During the whole walk back to Hope's Creek, Kaitlyn hadn't moved her hand from AJ's shoulder for an inch, holding her close to her as they walked next to the road back to the town, with only a handful of lampposts along the way to guide them and give them a sense of being close to civilization after all. It wasn't only because she was relieved as hell that her friend had been alive all this time, but also because she was afraid she'd sink onto her knees as soon as she would let her go; her bare legs were trembling with every step that she took, which instantly made her wonder how much abuse she had suffered at the hands of that bastard in order to become this weak. Heavily, no doubt about that. Kaitlyn had dearly hoped that Brian would continue to burn even after arriving in Hell for this. Dolph had been walking in front of them the entire time and not once had they seen a car passing them by, nor a patrol car, or a fire truck, for that matter. When the two-toned woman looked behind her, she could still see the outlines of the fire's large glow partially coloring the black sky orange in the distance, though she couldn't hear any kind of siren or other brightly colored lights. She chose not to verbally react to this and continued to silently walk along.

Though the light of the closest lamppost nearby was three meters away from them, the two-toned woman clearly saw the sheer shock in her friend's widened eyes as Dolph helped her with recalling that one guy she vaguely knew from the blonde bar owner's social circle from 1980, of who the only thing she knew of back then was the fact that he had a twin sister who had tragically passed away after getting horribly mangled in a car accident a couple of years ago, it was Dolph who told her about this at some point; she remembered none of the other friends Dolph had in that year, for he was the one who was most important to her back then. Now she remembered him, clear as day. The boy who decided to majorly show off with his guitar during that one party at his place… that boy who would always be there whenever she met up with the group… it had been him, all along. Liv's, Alicia's, and Carmella's blood had been on his hands, those very same hands that had mercilessly violated her inside that van, those very same hands who would beat the living hell out of her during her captivity in order to make her behave... The monster behind the Mr. Buns persona, Brian Kendrick, was the one responsible for all of her suffering.

'Oh my God…' was all she could whisper with a soft, trembling voice as she covered her mouth with one hand; perhaps it was the horror the realization had struck her with that made her unable to say anything else about it. Kaitlyn had given her shoulder a firm squeeze and reassuringly muttered to her that he would never harm her again.

At some point during the walk back to Hope's Creek, they had all came to the agreement that the rest of this night should be spend at Dolph's place. After what seemed like an exhausting eternity of walking, they had finally arrived at Hope's Creek and a little later on, the blonde bar owner's house. He offered to sleep on the couch, offering to let AJ and Kaitlyn sleep in his own bed, the only bed he had. Just before the two women had gone upstairs, he had still enough energy to place one kiss on Kaitlyn's lips, telling her to get as much well-deserved sleep as she needed and wake him up if something was up before he tucked himself in under a dark green fleece blanket on the couch. The two-toned woman had thought that the horrors they had gone through this night would prevent her of getting any sleep whatsoever, seeing as going to bed as pointless. But much to the surprise she felt upon awakening the next day, she and AJ had fallen asleep one minute after closing their eyes, sleeping like rocks throughout the remainder of the night.

If AJ hadn't woke her up in the morning to ask her if she wanted to go to their childhood hideout in the woods with her, Kaitlyn was convinced that she would have slept through the entire day. She had quickly penned down a note of where they were and promising to be back soon for Dolph to read, who was still sleeping on the couch when she came downstairs; both young women didn't feel a need to eat breakfast before leaving.  
There was no way Kaitlyn could deny this… right now, it felt like she was dreaming a most surreal but peaceful dream.

The nature around them felt and looked like absolutely nothing horrifying had happened during these past days, which was what made this whole situation so unbelievably but blissfully surreal. Warm sunlight peeked through the lively green leaves of the trees around them, shining on them, the ground, the bushes and the worn hideout. It sounded like the pleasant singing of the birds living in these woods was coming from every direction; it was the perfect background music for a summer morning in the woods. A brief breeze rolled through the woods at that moment, making the leaves of both the trees and the bushes nearby _Casa La_ AJ gently rustle for a few seconds before falling silent once more. If one would listen very closely, the river underneath the bridge could be heard in the distance, calmly sloshing and splashing. Closing your eyes in a place like this and letting all of these sensations in your head could make you think that time was a non-existing concept in these woods, and to Kaitlyn, and possibly AJ too, this was all so true.

It was just the two of them.

Nearly two passing decades had made it too hard for them to squeeze their bodies inside the small, worn-down, decayed hut; the petite woman may have still fitted inside there, but if Kaitlyn would try to crawl inside, there surely wouldn't be much space to move around. The filth that had accumulated inside _Casa La_ AJ made the women decide to sit outside the hideout instead as well, which was perfectly fine by both of them. Perhaps AJ simply didn't have the heart to throw out all of her element-damaged belongings in order to make more space for them because ruined or not, they were still part of her beloved childhood hideout, parts of the memory to it. A perfectly understandable reason, if you'd ask the two-toned woman; she too would find it incredibly hard to do. They were sitting in front of the hideout, quietly enjoying the warmth of the sunshine that was shining upon them. It seemed like AJ was enjoying the tranquility the most, because when Kaitlyn took a moment to glance at her, she saw that her friend had slightly tilted the back of her head to her neck, closed her eyes, curled her mouth into a small, relaxed smile and wrapped her arms around her knees, that she had pulled up to her chest. It was still so hard to believe that she was actually sitting next to her, alive and in one piece, after all this time… a time that would forever make the two-toned woman's skin crawl upon recalling it. Only now were her latest injuries visible… looking at them made Kaitlyn intensely wish for Brian Kendrick, whose scorched body would surely be burned beyond recognition as of right now, to forever keep burning in the deepest pits of Hell once again. Numerous bruises decorated both of her arms, dark blue, fresh and hideous, but thankfully a temporary kind of injury, a final reminder to the two-toned woman of the abuse that had been inflicted on her friend. The torn dress, the pigtails and the socks were finally gone. It looked like the petite woman had snooped through Dolph's closet some time before waking Kaitlyn up, judging by the oversized, dark grey t-shirt and pair of dark blue jeans (tightly bound to her waist with a belt) that she was wearing; only the black shoes with straps had remained. Her hair was worn loose.

AJ Lee had all right to be called a survivor.

Then the small smile on the petite woman's face turned into a flat line and a few seconds later she let out a soft sigh. She turned her head to look at her friend.

'You know…' AJ said. 'When I was trapped in that hellhole, I found a diary. I read through it and from the looks of it, it was written by a girl. She was mostly writing about this male figure that was very controlling to her, it was… so unsettling to read. And… the last entry in that diary was about going to a party. Nothing else was written after that. It got me thinking… When Dolph told me how Brian's sister died, he told me that she had died in a car crash after leaving a party, I remember that now. And I remember… that sick bastard yelling that all that stuff in that bedroom was 'hers' and he did hear him crying out his sister's name… I'm pretty sure that diary must have belonged to Melissa Kendrick.'

Then it would be safe to assume that this mysterious male figure had been a younger Brian Kendrick. Just to think that even back then he was a scary fuck… even though they had been sitting in sunlight this whole time, Kaitlyn could feel the skin on her arms turn cold.

'It's so messed up if you think about it…' the two-toned woman said with a pensive look in her eyes.

'About what?'

'How the death of someone who is so important to you can turn you into a psychopath… that it can mess you up so emotionally and mentally that you feel this sick urge to do horrible things for your own need. It's such a scary thought, really… If Melissa was still alive to this day, then perhaps things would have turned out differently.'

'Or not.' AJ replied. 'I have a strong feeling that Brian would still become a sicko even if she would have lived. He was obsessed with her, Kaitlyn. She wrote about how he would literally scrub the make-up off of her face, tearing up her clothes simply because they weren't girly enough in his eyes and peeping on her when she was taking a shower. Her living or dying wouldn't make any difference whatsoever. Some people are bound to turn into psychopaths and I won't doubt for a second that Brian was one of those people.'

'Yeah… maybe so.' Kaitlyn admitted it, AJ did make a good point there. If Brian was already obsessing over the image of how a 'perfect' girl should live like, then he most likely would have turned into a murderous monster sooner or later anyway. There was no way to know this for sure though, but even if she was given an opportunity to somehow go back in time to see if this would indeed happen, she preferred not to ever find out about it; she had already obtained more mental scars than she wished to receive.

A few seconds of silence between the two friends followed. Not once did the birds silence their shrill but pleasant little voices. Kaitlyn stared straight ahead of her, starting to give the surrealism a place. Yes, AJ was really sitting next to her. She was here and had been speaking to her. And it was just the two of them, hanging out at that one place that was theirs and theirs alone. Here they were again, after all those years… if this really was a dream, the two-toned woman was sure she would awaken with a smile.

'So… You and Dolph, huh?' AJ suddenly asked. 'I guess you two, uh… you have something going on now.'

Had she seen him kissing her before going to sleep last night? Well yeah, she had been already at the top of the stairs when this happened, so that most likely had happened. Kaitlyn didn't feel any need to hide about the wonderful thing that had been going on between her and the blonde bar owner lately.

'Uh... yeah, we do.' Kaitlyn replied, followed by a little chuckle. 'Not right off the bat, though. Only yesterday did we start dating.'

'Ah. So what's the plan now? You're going to stay in Hope's Creek with him? You already got any people in mind for being the flower girl at your wedding?'

Yep, she indeed had changed so little over the years. The two-toned woman couldn't help but laugh because of this joke. 'My God, AJ, we're not going to rush things, seriously! But on a serious note… I don't know what's going to happen next. We will see. One day at the time. Dolph and I will probably talk about it when we get back to his place.'

Now that they were talking about Dolph Ziggler… Kaitlyn had smiled broadly when she had been laughing about AJ's comment, but now that this had to be brought up, the smile disappeared. God, this had been bothering her so much… and there was never a time where she wasn't overwhelmed with regret whenever she thought about it. She hadn't gotten the chance to apologize for it the last time they met and with some bad luck she would never get the chance to do it after they'd eventually return to their homes, so who knows... The right thing to do was to apologize right here, right now. The two-toned woman knew she had to set this straight; it would be painful to talk about it, but it had to be done.

'AJ… there is something I need to apologize for.' she said, looking up at the sky.

'Really? About what?' While she asked this, the petite woman raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

Kaitlyn took a deep breath, glanced down at the tips of her boots and slowly exhaled. 'It's, uh… It's about what happened on that night. On the night when you were… you know. For years, I had the feeling that what had been done to you was my fault. I was being so selfish…'

'What are you talking about?'

'Look, I knew that you had a crush on Dolph! And I hugged him anyway, because I was so damn needy at that moment! My parents had been fighting again on that night, I had to get out because I couldn't take it anymore, I was feeling so lonely, so that's why… It was so damn selfish. You didn't deserve any of that, I was such an awful friend by doing that. If I had never done it, you would have never run away and you would have never been… If I could go back to that night, I would have taken your place, AJ. I would have let that bastard pull me inside that van, because you didn't deserve it. It's my fault that it had to happen to you. And I want you to know… I'm so sorry for what I have done. I truly am. I understand if you don't feel like forgiving me, but… just know that I have never forgiven myself for this.'

Once again, there was silence between the two women as the petite woman stared down at the ground, as if she was unsure whether she was ready to forgive her friend for causing so much emotional hurt back then. Kaitlyn could swear that she saw a hint of hurt lingering in the petite woman's eyes, either because of recalling the moment where she had her heart shattered, or the insanely traumatizing event that followed up not too long after that, or both. Either way, the two-toned woman wouldn't blame AJ in the slightest for being unable to forgive her. After all… it was her neediness for having a guy's arms around her that caused all of that misery.

Then, after a little while, AJ closed her eyes and sighed.

'I'm not going to lie about it, Kait…' she spoke. 'That was such a shitty thing of you to do to me.'

'So true…'

'But, you know…' The petite woman sniffed and looked at the two-toned woman. 'Knowing that you actually came all this way and going through so much crap so you could find me… it definitely makes up for it.'

'Really?' Kaitlyn rapidly blinked her eyes in surprise and twitched the corners of her mouth into a smile. Oh God, she could break down in tears right now, but despite the tears stinging in the corners of her eyes, she managed to pull herself together before on tear could leak over.

The petite woman nodded at her. 'I had no idea that I still meant so much to you, even after all those years. Nobody has ever done something like this for me… You actually were so concerned about me that you put yourself through Hell and… I can't thank you enough for that. You were the one who saved me in the end. Who knows, I could have died last night if you weren't there. Again… thank you so much.'

'There was no way in hell I couldn't ignore not hearing anything from you. You're my best friend! That summer of 1980 was the scariest summer of my life… but then again, it was also the best one. That's because of the memories I made with you.'

Now it was AJ's turn to fight back the tears. She was this close to breaking down, but at the very last second, she managed to push them back and instead smile from ear to ear, feeling like the most blessed woman in the world to have Kaitlyn Bonin as her friend. The two-toned woman smiled back at her, not saying anything else; it was the pure happiness that was displayed on both of their faces that did all of the speaking.

It was at this moment where they both knew that their friendship was going to last for the rest of their lives.

'Say… do you also suddenly feel like having a smoothie?' the petite woman asked after a little while, when the most overwhelming part of this happiness had passed. 'I hope they still sell those.'

Kaitlyn briefly chuckled in response. 'Yeah, sure, I could go for one! Come on, let's go check it out. And let's get one for Dolph too, because hell, he deserves it.'

'Just so you know… I'm calling dibs on raspberry/banana.'

'I'll keep that in mind, don't worry.'

As they walked through the woods, heading back towards civilization, there was this one magical moment where they both felt like they had never grown past thirteen and were still living in that immortal summer of 1980.

 **And just like that, my friends, 'Pastel' has at last come to an end! Holy moly, I find it hard to believe that this story is over after working on it for longer than a year, it feels so crazy. When I started writing this story, I really didn't think it would take such a long time for me to complete it. During the months when I wrote this story, a lot of stuff happened. There had been a lot of times where I struggled to get any inspiration to write, mostly because of being kept busy with personal stuff in my life, struggling to write dialogue that didn't sound awkward or clunky, overthinking some of the moments in the story or simply suffering from writer's block from time to time. Honestly, there had been moments where I considered scrapping this whole story because there were so many long periods of me having no inspiration. But I'm happy that I decided to stick with it and finish it from start to end. Thank you all for your reviews, follows, favorites, but perhaps most of all in this case, your patience. It's going to be weird to know that this journey has come to an end, but boy, it also feels so satisfying. Once again, thank you all! See you all next time!**


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